The complexity of selection at the major primate beta-defensin locus.

ABSTRACT:

Background

We have examined the evolution of the genes at the major human beta-defensin locus and the orthologous loci in a range of other primates and mouse. For the first time these data allow us to examine selective episodes in the more recent evolutionary history of this locus as well as the ancient past. We have used a combination of maximum likelihood based tests and a maximum parsimony based sliding window approach to give a detailed view of the varying modes of selection operating at this locus.

Results

We provide evidence for strong positive selection soon after the duplication of these genes within an ancestral mammalian genome. Consequently variable selective pressures have acted on beta-defensin genes in different evolutionary lineages, with episodes both of nega

SUBMITTER: Semple CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1156880 | biostudies-literature | 2005 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature