Evolutionary constraint and adaptation in the metabolic network of Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: Organisms must carefully control their metabolism in order to survive. On the other hand, enzymes must adapt in response to evolutionary pressures on the pathways in which they are imbedded. Taking advantage of the newly available whole-genome sequences of 12 Drosophila species, we examined how protein function and metabolic network architecture influence rates of enzyme evolution. We found that despite high overall constraint, there were significant differences in rates of amino acid substitution among functional classes of enzymes. This heterogeneity arises because proteins involved in the metabolism of foreign compounds evolve relatively rapidly, whereas enzymes that act in "core" metabolism exhibit much slower rates of amino acid replacement, suggesting strong selective constraint. Net

SUBMITTER: Greenberg AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2721553 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature