Epistatically interacting substitutions are enriched during adaptive protein evolution.

ABSTRACT: Most experimental studies of epistasis in evolution have focused on adaptive changes-but adaptation accounts for only a portion of total evolutionary change. Are the patterns of epistasis during adaptation representative of evolution more broadly? We address this question by examining a pair of protein homologs, of which only one is subject to a well-defined pressure for adaptive change. Specifically, we compare the nucleoproteins from human and swine influenza. Human influenza is under continual selection to evade recognition by acquired immune memory, while swine influenza experiences less such selection due to the fact that pigs are less likely to be infected with influenza repeatedly in a lifetime. Mutations in some types of immune epitopes are therefore much more strongly adaptive to

SUBMITTER: Gong LI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4014419 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature