dictyNews
Electronic Edition
Volume 45, number 17
July 5, 2019
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Abstracts
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Conditional expression explains molecular evolution of social genes in a
microbe
Janaina Lima de Oliveira1a, Atahualpa Castillo Morales1a, Balint Stewart2,
Nicole Gruenheit2, Jennifer Engelmoer3, Suzanne Battom Brown3,
Reinaldo A. de Brito4, Laurence D. Hurst1, Araxi O. Urrutia1,5,
Christopher R. L. Thompson2*, Jason B. Wolf1*
1. Milner Centre for Evolution and Department of Biology and Biochemistry,
University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK
2. Centre for Life’s Origins and Evolution, Department of Genetics, Evolution
and Environment, University College London, Darwin Building, Gower Street,
London, WC1E 6BT, UK
3. Faculty of Life Sciences, Michael Smith Building, University of Manchester,
Oxford Rd, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK
4. Departamento de Genética e Evolução, Universidade Federal de São
Carlos, São Carlos, Brazil.
5. Institute of Ecology, UNAM, Mexico City, 04510, Mexico
a These authors contributed equally
*Correspondence to:
[log in to unmask] & [log in to unmask]
Nature Communications, in press
Conflict is thought to play a critical role in the evolution of social interactions
by promoting diversity or driving accelerated evolution. However, despite
our sophisticated understanding of how conflict shapes social traits, we have
limited knowledge of how it impacts molecular evolution across the underlying
social genes. Here we address this problem by analysing the genome-wide
impact of social interactions using genome sequences from 67 Dictyostelium
discoideum strains. We find that social genes tend to exhibit enhanced
polymorphism and accelerated evolution. However, these patterns are not
consistent with conflict driven processes, but instead reflect relaxed purifying
selection. This pattern is most likely explained by the conditional nature of
social interactions, whereby selection on genes expressed only in social
interactions is diluted by generations of inactivity. This dilution of selection by
inactivity enhances the role of drift, leading to increased polymorphism and
accelerated evolution, which we call the Red King process.
submitted by: Chris Thompson [[log in to unmask]]
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