Selective pressures that decrease synonymous mutations in Plasmodium falciparum.

Donald R Forsdyke

doi:10.1016/s1471-4922(02)02342-5

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Selective pressures that decrease synonymous mutations in Plasmodium falciparum.

Donald R Forsdyke

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Abstract

Rich and Ayala propose that the zero rate of non-amino-acid-changing (synonymous) mutations in some proteins of Plasmodium falciparum reflects a recent population bottleneck. Alternatively, Arnot and Saul propose sequence conservation in response to selective pressures other than the pressure to encode protein. Among these are fold pressure and purine-loading pressure. Genomes adapt to these by acquisition of introns and/or low-complexity (simple-sequence) segments in proteins. Adaptive explanations include facilitation of intragenic recombination (and hence diversification of the encoded protein) by DNA stem-loop secondary structures.

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Amino Acid Sequence Animals Antigens, Protozoan Base Composition Base Sequence Evolution, Molecular Herpesvirus 4, Human Plasmodium falciparum Point Mutation Protein Folding Protozoan Proteins Selection, Genetic Journal Article Review

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Donald R Forsdyke. 2002. Selective pressures that decrease synonymous mutations in Plasmodium falciparum.. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1471-4922(02)02342-5

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