Strong epistatic selection on the RNA secondary structure of HIV.

ABSTRACT: A key question in evolutionary genomics is how populations navigate the adaptive landscape in the presence of epistasis, or interactions among loci. This problem can be directly addressed by studying the evolution of RNA secondary structures, for which there is constraint to maintain pairing between Watson-Crick (WC) sites. Replacement of a nucleotide at one site of a WC pair reduces fitness by disrupting binding, which can be restored via a compensatory replacement at the interacting site. Here, I present the first genome-scale analysis of epistasis on the RNA secondary structure of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Comparison of polymorphism frequencies at ancestrally conserved sites reveals that selection against replacements is ∼ 2.7 times stronger at WC than at non-WC sites

SUBMITTER: Assis R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4161434 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature