The evolution of word composition in metazoan promoter sequence.

ABSTRACT: The field of molecular evolution provides many examples of the principle that molecular differences between species contain information about evolutionary history. One surprising case can be found in the frequency of short words in DNA: more closely related species have more similar word compositions. Interest in this has often focused on its utility in deducing phylogenetic relationships. However, it is also of interest because of the opportunity it provides for studying the evolution of genome function. Word-frequency differences between species change too slowly to be purely the result of random mutational drift. Rather, their slow pattern of change reflects the direct or indirect action of purifying selection and the presence of functional constraints. Many such constraints are likely

SUBMITTER: Bush EC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1630712 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature