• Title/Summary/Keyword: Molecular evolution

Search Result 522, Processing Time 0.032 seconds

Controversies on governing the rates of protein evolution

  • Choi, Sun-Shim
    • Interdisciplinary Bio Central
    • /
    • v.1 no.3
    • /
    • pp.11.1-11.5
    • /
    • 2009
  • One of the main issues of molecular evolution is to reveal the principles dictating protein evolutionary rates. A traditional hypothesis posits that protein evolutionary rates are mostly determined by the average functional importance of amino acids in a given protein. Thus the correlations of evolutionary rates with different variables such as PPI, gene essentiality and expression abundance have been studied to test the traditional hypothesis. Recently, mRNA expression abundance among the variables has drawn much attention, not only because it shows relatively strong correlation with protein evolutionary rates, but also because of the controversies surrounding an alternative hypothesis against the traditional one. Here, I will give an overview over the traditional hypothesis, and summarize the different variables that have been found to correlate with protein evolutionary rates. Then I will introduce pros and cons on the two different hypotheses.

Loss of gene function and evolution of human phenotypes

  • Oh, Hye Ji;Choi, Dongjin;Goh, Chul Jun;Hahn, Yoonsoo
    • BMB Reports
    • /
    • v.48 no.7
    • /
    • pp.373-379
    • /
    • 2015
  • Humans have acquired many distinct evolutionary traits after the human-chimpanzee divergence. These phenotypes have resulted from genetic changes that occurred in the human genome and were retained by natural selection. Comparative primate genome analyses reveal that loss-of-function mutations are common in the human genome. Some of these gene inactivation events were revealed to be associated with the emergence of advantageous phenotypes and were therefore positively selected and fixed in modern humans (the "less-ismore" hypothesis). Representative cases of human gene inactivation and their functional implications are presented in this review. Functional studies of additional inactive genes will provide insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying acquisition of various human-specific traits. [BMB Reports 2015; 48(7): 373-379]

Sirtuin/Sir2 Phylogeny, Evolutionary Considerations and Structural Conservation

  • Greiss, Sebastian;Gartner, Anton
    • Molecules and Cells
    • /
    • v.28 no.5
    • /
    • pp.407-415
    • /
    • 2009
  • The sirtuins are a protein family named after the first identified member, S. cerevisiae Sir2p. Sirtuins are protein deacetylases whose activity is dependent on $NAD^+$ as a cosubstrate. They are structurally defined by two central domains that together form a highly conserved catalytic center, which catalyzes the transfer of an acetyl moiety from acetyllysine to $NAD^+$, yielding nicotinamide, the unique metabolite O-acetyl-ADP-ribose and deacetylated lysine. One or more sirtuins are present in virtually all species from bacteria to mammals. Here we describe a phylogenetic analysis of sirtuins. Based on their phylogenetic relationship, sirtuins can be grouped into over a dozen classes and subclasses. Humans, like most vertebrates, have seven sirtuins: SIRT1-SIRT7. These function in diverse cellular pathways, regulating transcriptional repression, aging, metabolism, DNA damage responses and apoptosis. We show that these seven sirtuins arose early during animal evolution. Conserved residues cluster around the catalytic center of known sirtuin family members.

Evolution of CRISPR towards accurate and efficient mammal genome engineering

  • Ryu, Seuk-Min;Hur, Junseok W;Kim, Kyoungmi
    • BMB Reports
    • /
    • v.52 no.8
    • /
    • pp.475-481
    • /
    • 2019
  • The evolution of genome editing technology based on CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) system has led to a paradigm shift in biological research. CRISPR/Cas9-guide RNA complexes enable rapid and efficient genome editing in mammalian cells. This system induces double-stranded DNA breaks (DSBs) at target sites and most DNA breakages induce mutations as small insertions or deletions (indels) by non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) repair pathway. However, for more precise correction as knock-in or replacement of DNA base pairs, using the homology-directed repair (HDR) pathway is essential. Until now, many trials have greatly enhanced knock-in or substitution efficiency by increasing HDR efficiency, or newly developed methods such as Base Editors (BEs). However, accuracy remains unsatisfactory. In this review, we summarize studies to overcome the limitations of HDR using the CRISPR system and discuss future direction.

CHEMICAL EVOLUTION OF INTERSTELLAR CLOUDS AND VARIATIONS OF MOLECULAR ABUNDANCES

  • Minn, Y.K.
    • Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
    • /
    • v.13 no.1
    • /
    • pp.9-14
    • /
    • 1980
  • The abundances of simple molecules are examined in terms of the time-dependent cloud evolution. The formation and destruction mechanisms of $H_2CO$ are reviewed. The average value of the fractional abundance of $H_2CO$ is derived to be in the range of $10^{-10}\;to\;5{\times}10^{-9}$. This is comparable to the observed values. The expected variations of the molecules formed from or destroyed by CO, CI, and $C^+$ whose abundances depend on the evolutionary state of the cloud are discussed.

  • PDF

Isolation of Hydrogen Evolution Photosynthetic Bacteria Rhodobacter sphaeroides KS 56 (수소 생성 광합성 세균 Rhodobacter sphaeroides KS 56 분리)

  • 이은숙;권애란
    • The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
    • /
    • v.10 no.4
    • /
    • pp.549-552
    • /
    • 1997
  • A purple non-sulfur photosynthetic bacteria which evolved molecular hydrogen efficiently from glucose in the presence of low concentration of NH4+ under light illuminated anaerobic condition was isolated from mud samples in Korea. This bacteria was identified on Rhodobacter sphaeroides KS 56 based on the morphological, cultural and physiological characteristics.

  • PDF

Effect by the application of the Verlet Neighboring list in a Molecular Dynamics Simulation (분자동역학법에 있어 인접분자 리스트의 영향)

  • Choi Hyun-Kue;Kim Hae-min;Choe Soon-Youl;Kim Kyung-Kun;Choi Soon-Ho
    • Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
    • /
    • v.29 no.1
    • /
    • pp.60-67
    • /
    • 2005
  • Generally. in the molecular dynamics simulations. the Verlet neighboring list algorithm is used for the reduction of a simulation time On the other hand. the application of the Verlet neighboring list forces the time evolution of a simulation system to follow an unrealistic path in a phase space. In equilibrium state, it does not matter with the simulation results because the individual molecule's motion is originally random and any effect due to a small deviation from a real time evolution can be completely ignored. However, if an unsteady state is involved. such a deviation may significantly affect to the results. That is, there is a Possibility that the simulation results Provide ones with any misleading data In this study we evaluated the effect due to the Verlet neighboring list in performing the simulation of a non-equilibrium state and suggested the method to avoid it.

Identification of crystal variants in shape-memory alloys using molecular dynamics simulations

  • Wu, Jo-Fan;Yang, Chia-Wei;Tsou, Nien-Ti;Chen, Chuin-Shan
    • Coupled systems mechanics
    • /
    • v.6 no.1
    • /
    • pp.41-54
    • /
    • 2017
  • Shape-memory alloys (SMA) have interesting behaviors and important mechanical properties due to the solid-solid phase transformation. These phenomena are dominated by the evolution of microstructures. In recent years, the microstructures in SMAs have been studied extensively and modeled using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. However, it remains difficult to identify the crystal variants in the simulation results, which consist of large numbers of atoms. In the present work, a method is developed to identify the austenite phase and the monoclinic martensite crystal variants in MD results. The transformation matrix of each lattice is calculated to determine the corresponding crystal variant. Evolution of the volume fraction of the crystal variants and the microstructure in Ni-Ti SMAs under thermal and mechanical boundary conditions are examined. The method is validated by comparing MD-simulated interface normals with theoretical solutions. In addition, the results show that, in certain cases, the interatomic potential used in the current study leads to inconsistent monoclinic lattices compared with crystallographic theory. Thus, a specific modification is applied and the applicability of the potential is discussed.