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Adaptive protein evolution in Drosophila

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 05:16 authored by Nick G C Smith, Adam Eyre-WalkerAdam Eyre-Walker
For over 30 years a central question in molecular evolution has been whether natural selection plays a substantial role in evolution at the DNA sequence level1, 2. Evidence has accumulated over the last decade that adaptive evolution does occur at the protein level3, 4, but it has remained unclear how prevalent adaptive evolution is. Here we present a simple method by which the number of adaptive substitutions can be estimated and apply it to data from Drosophila simulans and D. yakuba. We estimate that 45% of all amino-acid substitutions have been fixed by natural selection, and that on average one adaptive substitution occurs every 45 years in these species.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Nature

ISSN

0028-0836

Volume

415

Page range

1022-1024

Pages

3.0

Department affiliated with

  • Evolution, Behaviour and Environment Publications

Notes

One of the first estimates of the rate of adaptive substitution. Cited by several textbooks. AEW designed the analysis, devised the method, did some of the analysis and wrote the paper. NS, who was a post-doc with AEW at the time, collected the data and did some of the analysis.

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

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