Does rapid sequence divergence preclude RNA structure conservation in vertebrates?

ABSTRACT: Accelerated evolution of any portion of the genome is of significant interest, potentially signaling positive selection of phenotypic traits and adaptation. Accelerated evolution remains understudied for structured RNAs, despite the fact that an RNA's structure is often key to its function. RNA structures are typically characterized by compensatory (structure-preserving) basepair changes that are unexpected given the underlying sequence variation, i.e., they have evolved through negative selection on structure. We address the question of how fast the primary sequence of an RNA can change through evolution while conserving its structure. Specifically, we consider predicted and known structures in vertebrate genomes. After careful control of false discovery rates, we obtain 13 de novo struct

SUBMITTER: Seemann SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8934657 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature