Causes of trends in amino-acid gain and loss

Laurence D. Hurst (), Edward J. Feil and Eduardo P. C. Rocha
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Laurence D. Hurst: University of Bath
Edward J. Feil: University of Bath
Eduardo P. C. Rocha: Atelier de BioInformatique, Université Pierre et Marie Curie

Nature, 2006, vol. 442, issue 7105, E11-E12

Abstract: Abstract Arising from: I. K. Jordan et al. Nature 433, 633–638 (2005); Jordan et al. reply Understanding how proteins evolve is important for determining the molecular basis of adaptation, for inferring phylogenies and for engineering novel proteins. It has been suggested that some amino acids were incorporated into the genetic code more recently than others1 and, after comparing pairs of closely related genomes, Jordan et al.2 report that 'recent' amino acids are becoming more common. They argue that this process has been going on since the genetic code first evolved to encompass all 20 amino acids. Here we provide evidence that the patterns observed conform with standard, nearly neutral theoretical expectations3 and require no new explanation. This reinforces the need for caution in the interpretation of results derived from closely related taxa.

Date: 2006
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DOI: 10.1038/nature05137

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