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Adaptive protein evolution in Drosophila

Author

Listed:
  • Nick G. C. Smith

    (Centre for the Study of Evolution and School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex
    Uppsala University)

  • Adam Eyre-Walker

    (Centre for the Study of Evolution and School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex)

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Nick G. C. Smith & Adam Eyre-Walker, 2002. "Adaptive protein evolution in Drosophila," Nature, Nature, vol. 415(6875), pages 1022-1024, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:415:y:2002:i:6875:d:10.1038_4151022a
    DOI: 10.1038/4151022a
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Benger, Etam & Sella, Guy, 2013. "Modeling the effect of changing selective pressures on polymorphism and divergence," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 73-85.
    2. Xinkai Wu & Mengze Xu & Jian-Rong Yang & Jian Lu, 2024. "Genome-wide impact of codon usage bias on translation optimization in Drosophila melanogaster," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-16, December.
    3. Sella, Guy, 2009. "An exact steady state solution of Fisher’s geometric model and other models," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 30-34.
    4. Toni I Gossmann & David Waxman & Adam Eyre-Walker, 2014. "Fluctuating Selection Models and Mcdonald-Kreitman Type Analyses," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(1), pages 1-5, January.
    5. Kirsten E Eilertson & James G Booth & Carlos D Bustamante, 2012. "SnIPRE: Selection Inference Using a Poisson Random Effects Model," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(12), pages 1-14, December.
    6. Vogl, Claus & Mikula, Lynette Caitlin, 2021. "A nearly-neutral biallelic Moran model with biased mutation and linear and quadratic selection," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1-17.
    7. Xinru Zhang & Bohao Fang & Yi-Fei Huang, 2023. "Transcription factor binding sites are frequently under accelerated evolution in primates," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-16, December.
    8. Juan M Calvo-Martín & Montserrat Papaceit & Carmen Segarra, 2017. "Molecular population genetics of the Polycomb genes in Drosophila subobscura," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(9), pages 1-15, September.

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