Examination of Signatures of Recent Positive Selection on Genes Involved in Human Sialic Acid Biology.

ABSTRACT: Sialic acids are nine carbon sugars ubiquitously found on the surfaces of vertebrate cells and are involved in various immune response-related processes. In humans, at least 58 genes spanning diverse functions, from biosynthesis and activation to recycling and degradation, are involved in sialic acid biology. Because of their role in immunity, sialic acid biology genes have been hypothesized to exhibit elevated rates of evolutionary change. Consistent with this hypothesis, several genes involved in sialic acid biology have experienced higher rates of non-synonymous substitutions in the human lineage than their counterparts in other great apes, perhaps in response to ancient pathogens that infected hominins millions of years ago (paleopathogens). To test whether sialic acid biology genes ha

SUBMITTER: Moon JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5873920 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature