Covariation Is a Poor Measure of Molecular Coevolution.

ABSTRACT: Recent developments in the analysis of amino acid covariation are leading to breakthroughs in protein structure prediction, protein design, and prediction of the interactome. It is assumed that observed patterns of covariation are caused by molecular coevolution, where substitutions at one site affect the evolutionary forces acting at neighboring sites. Our theoretical and empirical results cast doubt on this assumption. We demonstrate that the strongest coevolutionary signal is a decrease in evolutionary rate and that unfeasibly long times are required to produce coordinated substitutions. We find that covarying substitutions are mostly found on different branches of the phylogenetic tree, indicating that they are independent events that may or may not be attributable to coevolution. Thes

SUBMITTER: Talavera D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4540965 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature