TY - JOUR
T1 - Evolution of the insertion-deletion mutation rate across the tree of life
AU - Sung, Way
AU - Ackerman, Matthew S.
AU - Dillon, Marcus M.
AU - Platt, Thomas G.
AU - Fuqua, Clay
AU - Cooper, Vaughn S.
AU - Lynch, Michael
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Sung et al.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Mutations are the ultimate source of variation used for evolutionary adaptation, while also being predominantly deleterious and a source of genetic disorders. Understanding the rate of insertiondeletion mutations (indels) is essential to understanding evolutionary processes, especially in coding regions, where such mutations can disrupt production of essential proteins. Using direct estimates of indel rates from 14 phylogenetically diverse eukaryotic and bacterial species, along with measures of standing variation in such species, we obtain results that imply an inverse relationship of mutation rate and effective population size. These results, which corroborate earlier observations on the base-substitution mutation rate, appear most compatible with the hypothesis that natural selection reduces mutation rates per effective genome to the point at which the power of random genetic drift (approximated by the inverse of effective population size) becomes overwhelming. Given the substantial differences in DNA metabolism pathways that give rise to these two types of mutations, this consistency of results raises the possibility that refinement of other molecular and cellular traits may be inversely related to species-specific levels of random genetic drift.
AB - Mutations are the ultimate source of variation used for evolutionary adaptation, while also being predominantly deleterious and a source of genetic disorders. Understanding the rate of insertiondeletion mutations (indels) is essential to understanding evolutionary processes, especially in coding regions, where such mutations can disrupt production of essential proteins. Using direct estimates of indel rates from 14 phylogenetically diverse eukaryotic and bacterial species, along with measures of standing variation in such species, we obtain results that imply an inverse relationship of mutation rate and effective population size. These results, which corroborate earlier observations on the base-substitution mutation rate, appear most compatible with the hypothesis that natural selection reduces mutation rates per effective genome to the point at which the power of random genetic drift (approximated by the inverse of effective population size) becomes overwhelming. Given the substantial differences in DNA metabolism pathways that give rise to these two types of mutations, this consistency of results raises the possibility that refinement of other molecular and cellular traits may be inversely related to species-specific levels of random genetic drift.
KW - Drift barrier
KW - Insertion-deletion mutation rate
KW - Mutation accumulation
KW - Mutation-rate evolution
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U2 - 10.1534/g3.116.030890
DO - 10.1534/g3.116.030890
M3 - Article
C2 - 27317782
AN - SCOPUS:84983616784
SN - 2160-1836
VL - 6
SP - 2583
EP - 2591
JO - G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics
JF - G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics
IS - 8
ER -