Evidence for the Selective Basis of Transition-to-Transversion Substitution Bias in Two RNA Viruses.

ABSTRACT: The substitution rates of transitions are higher than expected by chance relative to those of transversions. Many have argued that selection disfavors transversions, as nonsynonymous transversions are less likely to conserve biochemical properties of the original amino acid. Only recently has it become feasible to directly test this selective hypothesis by comparing the fitness effects of a large number of transition and transversion mutations. For example, a recent study of six viruses and one beta-lactamase gene did not find evidence supporting the selective hypothesis. Here, we analyze the relative fitness effects of transition and transversion mutations from our recently published genome-wide study of mutational fitness effects in influenza virus. In contrast to prior work, we find tha

SUBMITTER: Lyons DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5850290 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature