Journal
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
Volume 20, Issue 11, Pages 1844-1853Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msg197
Keywords
anthocyanin pathway; nucleotide substitution rates; positive selection; codon usage; rate variation.
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Over a broad taxonomic range that spans monocots and dicots. upstream enzymes of the anthocyanin pigment pathway have evolved less rapidly than downstream enzymes. In this article we show that this pattern is also evident within the genus Ipomoea. Specifically, the most upstream enzyme, chalcone synthase (CHS-D), evolves more slowly than the two most downstream enzymes, ancyocyanidin synthase (ANS) and UDP glucose flavonoid 3-oxy-glucosyltransferase (UFGT). This pattern appears not to be due to variation in mutation rates, because the CHS-D gene exhibits higher synonymous substitution rates than the genes for the other two enzymes. Codon-based tests for positive selection suggest that it has been negligible or absent in all three genes. In addition, the mean number of indel-creating events is four times as high in the downstream genes as in CHS-D. Unlike the downstream genes, CHS-D also exhibits evidence of codon bias. Together, the evidence suggests that the difference in nonsynonymous substitution rates between upstream and downstream genes is due to relaxed constraint on the downstream genes rather than a greater frequency of positively selected substitutions.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available