Level of gene expression is a major determinant of protein evolution in the viral order Mononegavirales.

ABSTRACT: Although the rate at which proteins change is a key parameter in molecular evolution, its determinants are poorly understood in viruses. A variety of factors, including gene length, codon usage bias, protein abundance, protein function, and gene expression level, have been shown to affect the rate of protein evolution in a diverse array of organisms. However, the role of these factors in viral evolution has yet to be addressed. The polar 3'-5' stepwise attenuation of transcription in the Mononegavirales, a group of single-strand negative-sense RNA viruses, provides a unique system to explore the determinants of protein evolution in viruses. We analyzed the relative importance of a variety of factors in shaping patterns of sequence variation in full-length genomes from 13 Mononegavirales sp

SUBMITTER: Pagan I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3347393 | biostudies-literature | 2012 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature