A Short-Term View of Protein Sequence Evolution from Salmonella.

ABSTRACT: Much of the study of protein sequence evolution is based on sequence changes inferred to have occurred in nature. The sequences compared for this purpose are usually sufficiently distant that purifying selection has had nearly its full effect and most of the changes inferred have been exposed to a variety of conditions. Here, I make use of large numbers of Salmonella genome sequences to study changes known to be of very recent origin because they are inferred from comparison of very closely related sequences. The effects of purifying selection are weak yet discernible on this short timescale: the ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous changes is smaller than expected under selective neutrality, but only slightly so. Essential genes have lower rates of nonsynonymous change, as they do on a lo

SUBMITTER: Cherry JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11925014 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature