Goldstein, RA;
(2013)
Population size dependence of fitness effect distribution and substitution rate probed by biophysical model of protein thermostability.
GBE: Genome Biology and Evolution
, 5
(9)
pp. 1584-1593.
10.1093/gbe/evt110.
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Abstract
The predicted effect of effective population size on the distribution of fitness effects and substitution rate is critically dependent on the relationship between sequence and fitness. This highlights the importance of using models that are informed by the molecular biology, biochemistry, and biophysics of the evolving systems. We describe a computational model based on fundamental aspects of biophysics, the requirement for (most) proteins to be thermodynamically stable. Using this model, we find that differences in population size have minimal impact on the distribution of population scaled fitness effects, as well as on the rate of molecular evolution. This is because larger populations result in selection for more stable proteins that are less affected by mutations. This reduction in the magnitude of the fitness effects almost exactly cancels the greater selective pressure resulting from the larger population size. Conversely, changes in the population size in either direction cause transient increases in the substitution rate. As differences in population size often correspond to changes in population size, this makes comparisons of substitution rates in different lineages difficult to interpret.
Type: | Article |
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Title: | Population size dependence of fitness effect distribution and substitution rate probed by biophysical model of protein thermostability |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.1093/gbe/evt110 |
Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evt110 |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | © The Author 2013. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Effective population size, Epistasis, Nearly neutral theory, Population bottleneck, Protein stability, Substitution rate |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Infection and Immunity |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1403679 |
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