GENOME

Genes and proteins rarely act in isolation. Instead, they tend to function as parts of complex pathways and networks of interacting molecules, such as metabolic pathways and networks, signal transduction pathways and networks, gene regulatory pathways and networks, protein-protein interaction networks, etc. As a result, genes do not evolve in isolation either: their evolution is affected by their interactions with other genes, and by their position within the network. E.g., central genes within a network (e.g., those involved in several interactions) are more selectively constrained than the more peripheral ones, and interacting genes tend to have relatively similar patterns of evolution... Genes in a genome widely differ in their patterns and modes of evolution. Some proteins are highly conserved during evolution, whereas others are much freer to evolve; some are more likely than others to undergo adaptive evolution; some genes tend to duplicate, while others remain as a single-copy..

Primary location: Reno United States