Comparison of protein and mRNA expression evolution in humans and chimpanzees.

ABSTRACT: Even though mRNA expression levels are commonly used as a proxy for estimating functional differences that occur at the protein level, the relation between mRNA and protein expression is not well established. Further, no study to date has tested whether the evolutionary differences in mRNA expression observed between species reflect those observed in protein expression. Since a large proportion of mRNA expression differences observed between mammalian species appears to have no functional consequences for the phenotype, it is conceivable that many or most mRNA expression differences are not reflected at the protein level. If this is true, then differences in protein expression may largely reflect functional adaptations observed in species phenotypes. In this paper, we present the first dir

SUBMITTER: Fu N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1789144 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature