Playing Hide-and-Seek in Beta-Globin Genes: Gene Conversion Transferring a Beneficial Mutation between Differentially Expressed Gene Duplicates.

ABSTRACT: Increasing evidence suggests that adaptation to diverse environments often involves selection on existing variation rather than new mutations. A previous study identified a nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in exon 2 of two paralogous β-globin genes of the bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus) in Britain in which the ancestral serine (Ser) and the derived cysteine (Cys) allele represent geographically partitioned functional variation affecting the erythrocyte antioxidative capacity. Here we studied the geographical pattern of the two-locus Ser/Cys polymorphism throughout Europe and tested for the geographic correlation between environmental variables and allele frequency, expected if the polymorphism was under spatially heterogeneous environment-related selection. Alt

SUBMITTER: Straznicka M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6209878 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature