The structure of an ancient genotype-phenotype map shaped the functional evolution of a protein family.

ABSTRACT: Some phenotypes are more likely to be produced by mutation than others, but the causal role of these propensities in the evolution of extant phenotypic diversity remains unclear. There are two major challenges: it is difficult to separate the effect of the genotype-phenotype (GP) map from that of natural selection in causing natural patterns of diversity, and most extant phenotypes evolved long ago in species whose GP maps cannot be recovered. Using reconstructed ancestral transcription factors as a model to address this problem, we created libraries containing all possible amino acid combinations at historically variable sites in the proteins' DNA binding interface (the genotypes) and measured their capacity to bind specifically to response elements containing all possible combinations of

SUBMITTER: Herrera-Alvarez S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11838366 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature