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Translation of neutrally evolving peptides provides a basis for de novo gene evolution

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 2, pages 890–896 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

Accumulating evidence indicates that some protein-coding genes have originated de novo from previously non-coding genomic sequences. However, the processes underlying de novo gene birth are still enigmatic. In particular, the appearance of a new functional protein seems highly improbable unless there is already a pool of neutrally evolving peptides that are translated at significant levels and that can at some point acquire new functions. Here, we use deep ribosome-profiling sequencing data, together with proteomics and single nucleotide polymorphism information, to search for these peptides. We find hundreds of open reading frames that are translated and that show no evolutionary conservation or selective constraints. These data suggest that the translation of these neutrally evolving peptides may be facilitated by the chance occurrence of open reading frames with a favourable codon composition. We conclude that the pervasive translation of the transcriptome provides plenty of material for the evolution of new functional proteins.

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Fig. 1: Detection of translated ORFs.
Fig. 2: Identification of selection signatures.
Fig. 3: Three-nucleotide periodicity of translated ORFs.
Fig. 4: Factors influencing the translation of neutrally evolving ORFs.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful for valuable discussions with many colleagues during this study. This work was funded by grants BFU2012-36820, BFU2015-65235-P and TIN2015-69175-C4-3-R from Ministerio de Economía e Innovación (Spanish Government) and co-funded by FEDER (EC). We also received funding from Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca Generalitat de Catalunya (AGAUR), grant no. 2014SGR1121.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Evolutionary Genomics Group, Research Programme on Biomedical Informatics, Hospital del Mar Research Institute, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

    Jorge Ruiz-Orera, José Luis Villanueva-Cañas & M. Mar Albà

  2. Computer Sciences Department, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya , Barcelona, Spain

    Pol Verdaguer-Grau & Xavier Messeguer

  3. Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, Barcelona, Spain

    M. Mar Albà

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  1. Jorge Ruiz-Orera
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  3. José Luis Villanueva-Cañas
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  4. Xavier Messeguer
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  5. M. Mar Albà
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Contributions

J.R.-O. and M.M.A. conceived the study, interpreted the data and wrote the paper. J.R.-O. performed most of the analyses, including the transcript assemblies, identification of translated ORFs, BLAST searches, SNP mapping and generation of controls. J.R.-O., P.V.-G. and J.L.V.-C. wrote the code and performed analyses on the coding score. X.M. wrote the code to calculate the expected SNP frequencies. M.M.A. coordinated the study.

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Correspondence to Jorge Ruiz-Orera or M. Mar Albà.

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Ruiz-Orera, J., Verdaguer-Grau, P., Villanueva-Cañas, J.L. et al. Translation of neutrally evolving peptides provides a basis for de novo gene evolution. Nat Ecol Evol 2, 890–896 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0506-6

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