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Evidence of widespread degradation of gene control regions in hominid genomes

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posted on 2023-06-07, 20:10 authored by Peter D Keightley, Martin J Lercher, Adam Eyre-WalkerAdam Eyre-Walker
Although sequences containing regulatory elements located close to protein-coding genes are often only weakly conserved during evolution, comparisons of rodent genomes have implied that these sequences are subject to some selective constraints. Evolutionary conservation is particularly apparent upstream of coding sequences and in first introns, regions that are enriched for regulatory elements. By comparing the human and chimpanzee genomes, we show here that there is almost no evidence for conservation in these regions in hominids. Furthermore, we show that gene expression is diverging more rapidly in hominids than in murids per unit of neutral sequence divergence. By combining data on polymorphism levels in human noncoding DNA and the corresponding human¿chimpanzee divergence, we show that the proportion of adaptive substitutions in these regions in hominids is very low. It therefore seems likely that the lack of conservation and increased rate of gene expression divergence are caused by a reduction in the effectiveness of natural selection against deleterious mutations because of the low effective population sizes of hominids. This has resulted in the accumulation of a large number of deleterious mutations in sequences containing gene control elements and hence a widespread degradation of the genome during the evolution of humans and chimpanzees.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

PLoS Biology

ISSN

1544-9173

Publisher

Public Library of Science

Issue

2

Volume

3

Page range

282-288

Pages

7.0

Department affiliated with

  • Evolution, Behaviour and Environment Publications

Notes

The first evidence that gene control regions have undergone extensive degradation in hominids. AEW designed one of the two central analyses in the paper, did part of the analysis and co-wrote the paper.

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2016-03-22

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2016-11-18

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