On theoretical models of gene expression evolution with random genetic drift and natural selection.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The relative contributions of natural selection and random genetic drift are a major source of debate in the study of gene expression evolution, which is hypothesized to serve as a bridge from molecular to phenotypic evolution. It has been suggested that the conflict between views is caused by the lack of a definite model of the neutral hypothesis, which can describe the long-run behavior of evolutionary change in mRNA abundance. Therefore previous studies have used inadequate analogies with the neutral prediction of other phenomena, such as amino acid or nucleotide sequence evolution, as the null hypothesis of their statistical inference.

Methodology/principal findings

In this study, we introduced two novel theoretical models, one based on neutral drift and the o

SUBMITTER: Ogasawara O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2776274 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature