Summary
A method for estimating the evolutionary rates of synonymous and amino acid substitutions from homologous nucleotide sequences is presented. This method is applied to genes of øX174 and G4 genomes, histone genes andβ-globin genes, for which homologous nucleotide sequences are available for comparison to be made. It is shown that the rates of synonymous substitutions are quite uniform among the non-overlapping genes of øX174 and G4 and among histone genes H4, H2B, H3 and H2A. A comparison between øX174 and G4 reveals that, in the overlapping segments of the A-gene, the rate of synonymous substitution is reduced more significantly than the rate of amino acid substitution relative to the corresponding rate in the nonoverlapping segment. It is also suggested that, in the coding regions surrounding the splicing points of intervening sequences ofβ-globin genes, there exist rigid secondary structures. It is in only these regions that theβ-globin genes show the slowing down of evolutionary rates of both synonymous and amino acid substitutions in the primate line.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Dayhoff MO (1978) Atlas of protein sequence and structure, vol 5, suppl. 3, Na tional Biomedical Research Foundation, Maryland
Dickerson RE (1971) J Mol Evol 1:26–45
Efstratiadis A, Kafatos FC, Maniatis T (1977) Cell 10:571–585
Fiers W, Contreras R, Duerinck F, Haegeman G, Merregaert J, Min-Jou W, Raeymaekers A, Volckaert G, Ysebaert M, Van de Kerckhove J, Nolf F, Van Mantagu M (1975) Nature 256:273–278
Fiers W, Contreras R, Duerinck F, Haegeman G, Iserentant D, Merregaert J, Min-Jou W, Molemans F, Raeymaekers A, Van den Berghu A, Volckaert G, Ysebaert M (1976) Nature 260:500–507
Fitch WM, Langley CH (1976) Federation Proceedings 35:2092–2097
Godson GN, Barrell BG, Staden R, Fiddes JC (1978) Nature 276:236–247
Goodman M, Moore GW, Matsuda G (1975) Nature 253:603–608
Goodman M, Moore GW, Barnabas J, Matsuda G (1974) J Mol Evol 3:1–48
Grantham R (1978) FEBS Lett 95:1–11
Grunstein M, Grunstein JE (1978) Cold Spring Harbor Symp Quant Biol 42:1083–1092
Grunstein M, Schedl P, Kedes L (1976) J Mol Biol 104:351–369
Heindell HC, Liu A, Paddock GV, Studnicka GM, Salser WA (1978) Cell 15:43–54
Kafatos FC, Efstratiadis A, Forget BG, Weissman SM (1977) Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 74:5618–5622
Kimura M (1977) Nature 267:275–276
Kimura M, Ohta T (1974) Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 71:2848–2852
Konkel DA, Tilghman SM, Leder P (1978) Cell 15:1125–1132
Marrotta CA, Wilson JT, Forget BG, Weissman SM (1977) J Biol Chem 252:5040–5053
Min-Jou W, Haegeman G, Ysebaert M, Fiers W (1972) Nature 237:82–88
Min-Jou W, Fiers W (1976) J Mol Biol 106:1047–1060
Miyata T, Yasunaga T (1978) Nature 272:532–535
Miyata T, Miyazawa S, Yasunaga T (1979) J Mol Evol 12:219–236
Nakanishi S, Inoue A, Kita T, Nakamura M, Chang ACY, Cohen SN, Numa S (1979) Nature 278:423–427
Ohta T, Kimura M (1971) J Mol Evol 1:18–25
Roberts JL, Seeburg PH, Shine J, Herbert E, Baxter JD, Goodman HM (1979) Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 76:2153–2157
Romero-Herrera AE, Lehman H, Joysey KA, Friday AE (1973) Nature 246:389–395
Salser W (1978) Cold Spring Harbor Symp Quant Biol 42:985–1002
Salser W, Isaacson JS (1976) Prog Nucleic Acid Res 19:205–220
Sanger F, Air GM, Barrell BG, Brown NL, Coulson AR, Fiddes JC, Hutchison III CA, Slocombe PMS, Smith M (1977) Nature 265:689–695
Sanger F, Coulson AR, Friedmann T, Air GM, Barrell BG, Brown NL, Fiddes JC, Hutchison III CA, Slocombe PM, Smith M (1978) J Mol Biol 125:225–246
Schaffner W, Knuz G, Daetwyler H, Telford J, Smith HO, Birnstiel ML (1978) Cell 14:655–671
Sures I, Lowry J, Kedes LH (1978) Cell 15:1033–1044
Wilson AC, Carlson SS, White TJ (1977) Ann Rev Biochem 46:573–639
Zuckerkandl E, Pauling L (1965) Evolving genes and proteins. Bryson V, Vogel HJ (eds) Academic Press, New York p 97
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Miyata, T., Yasunaga, T. Molecular evolution of mRNA: A method for estimating evolutionary rates of synonymous and amino acid substitutions from homologous nucleotide sequences and its application. J Mol Evol 16, 23–36 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01732067
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01732067