Summary
There are at least two outstanding features that characterize the rate of evolution at the molecular level as compared with that at the phenotypic level. They are; (1) remarkable uniformity for each molecule, and (2) very high overall rate when extrapolated to the whole DNA content.
The population dynamics for the rate of mutant substitution was developed, and it was shown that if mutant substitutions in the population are carried out mainly by natural selection, the rate of substitution is given byk = 4 N e s 1 v, whereN e is the effective population number,s 1 is the selective advantage of the mutants, andv is the mutation rate per gamete for such advantageous mutants (assuming that 4N e s 1 ≫ 1). On the other hand, if the substitutions are mainly carried out by random fixation of selectively neutral or nearly neutral mutants, we havek = v, wherev is the mutation rate per gamete for such mutants.
Reasons were presented for the view that evolutionary change of amino acids in proteins has been mainly caused by random fixation of neutral mutants rather than by natural selection.
It was concluded that if this view is correct, we should expect that genes of “living fossils” have undergone almost as many DNA base replacements as the corresponding genes of more rapidly evolving species.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Cox, E. C., Yanofsky, Ch.: Proc. nat. Acad. Sci. (Wash.)58, 1895–1902 (1967).
Crow, J. F.: Proc. XII Intern. Congr. Genetics3, 105–113 (1969).
— Genetic loads and the cost of natural selection. In: Biomathematics 1, mathematical topics in population genetics. K. Kojima, ed., p. 127–177. Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer 1970.
—, Kimura, M.: Amer. Natur.99, 439–450 (1965).
—, —, An introduction to population genetics theory. New York: Harper & Row 1970.
Dayhoff, M. O. (ed.): Atlas of protein sequence and structure. Silver Spring, Maryland: National Biomedical Research Foundation 1969.
Felsenstein, J.: Amer. Natur.105, 1–11 (1971).
Fisher, R. A.: Proc. roy. Soc. Edinb.50, 205–220 (1930).
Fitch, W. M., Margoliash, E.: The usefulness of amino acid and nucleotide sequences in evolutionary studies. In: Evolutionary biology, Steere, Dobzhansky & Hecht, eds. (in press).
—, Markowitz, E.: Biochemical Genetics4, 579–593 (1970).
Gibson, T. C., Scheppe, M. L., Cox, E. C.: Science169, 686–688 (1970).
Haldane, J. B. S.: Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc.23, 838–844 (1927).
—, Evolution3, 51–56 (1949).
—, J. Genet.55, 511–524 (1957).
—, J. Genet.57, 351–360 (1960).
Jukes, T. H.: Molecules and evolution. New York: Columbia Univ. Press 1966.
Kimura, M.: Ann. Math. Stat.28, 882–901 (1957).
—, J. Genet.57, 21–34 (1960).
—, Genetics47, 713–719 (1962).
—, J. appl. Probability1, 177–232 (1964).
—, Nature (Lond.)217, 624–626 (1968a).
—, Genet. Res. Camb.11, 247–269 (1968b).
—, Genetics61, 893–903 (1969a).
—, Proc. nat. Acad. Sci. (Wash.)63, 1181–1188 (1969b).
—, Crow, J. F.: Evolution17, 279–288 (1963).
—, — Genet. Res.13, 127–141 (1969).
—, Maruyama, T.: Heredity24, 101–114 (1969).
—, Ohta, T.: Genetics61, 763–771 (1969a).
—, —, Genetics63, 701–709 (1969b).
King, J. L.: The influence of the genetic code on protein evolution. In: Biochemical evolution and the origin of life. E. Schoffeniels, ed. North Holland (in press).
—, Jukes, T. H.: Science164, 788–798 (1969).
- - Arnheim, N.: Nature (submitted).
Mayr, E.: Animal species and evolution. Cambridge: Harvard University Press 1965.
McLaughlin, P. J., Dayhoff, M. O.: Science168, 1469–1471 (1970).
Muller, H. J.: Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.64, 137–160 (1958).
Nei, M.: Genetics (in press).
Ohta, T., Kimura, M.: Genetics64, 387–395 (1970).
- - Genetics (in press).
Richmond, R. C.: Nature (Lond.)225, 1025–1028 (1970).
Romer, A. S.: The procession of life. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1968.
Sarich, V. M., Wilson, A. C.: Proc. nat. Acad. Sci. (Wash.)58, 142–148 (1967).
Simpson, G. G.: Tempo and mode in evolution. New York: Columbia Univ. Press 1944.
—, Pittendrigh, C. S., Tiffany, L. H.: Life: An introduction to biology. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul 1958.
Vogel, F.: Nature (Lond.)201, 847 (1964).
Wright, S.: Population structure as a factor in evolution. In: Moderne Biologie. F. W. Peter, Editor, p. 274–287. Festschrift für Hans Nachtsheim, Berlin (1950).
Zuckerkandl, E., Pauling, L.: Evolutionary divergence and convergence in proteins. In: Evolving genes and proteins. V. Bryson, & H. J. Vogel eds., p. 97–166. New York: Academic Press 1965.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Contribution No. 789 from the National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Shizuokaken 411 Japan. Aided in part by a grant-in-aid from the Ministry of Education, Japan.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kimura, M., Ohta, T. On the rate of molecular evolution. J Mol Evol 1, 1–17 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01659390
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01659390