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Genetics

The inner life of proteins

Nature volume 490, pages 493–494 (2012)Cite this article

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A quantitative analysis shows that epistasis — the fact that genetic background determines whether a mutation is beneficial, deleterious or inconsequential — is the main factor regulating evolution at the level of proteins. See Letter p.535

There is a long-standing controversy in evolutionary biology about the relative importance of 'internal' versus 'external' factors in determining the rate and outcomes of evolution. Is evolution primarily determined by ecology and the environment, or do an organism's own functional and developmental features make a substantial contribution? Now, at least at the level of proteins, it seems we have an answer. On page 535 of this issue, Breen et al.1 present a rigorous statistical analysis of protein sequences that suggests that functional interactions among amino acids are a major determinant of protein-sequence evolution.

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References

  1. Breen, M. S., Kemena, C., Vlasov, P. K., Notredame, C. & Kondrashov, F. A. Nature 490, 535–538 (2012).

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  2. Templeton, A. R. in Epistasis and the Evolutionary Process (eds Wolf, J. B., Brodie, E. D. III & Wade, M. J.) 41–57 (Oxford Univ. Press, 2000).

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  3. Fisher, R. A. The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection (Clarendon, 1930).

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  1. Günter P. Wagner is in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and at the Yale Systems Biology Institute, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06477, USA.,

    Günter P. Wagner

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  1. Günter P. Wagner
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Correspondence to Günter P. Wagner.

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Wagner, G. The inner life of proteins. Nature 490, 493–494 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/490493a

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