Skip Navigation


MBE Advance Access originally published online on August 29, 2003
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Supplementary Material
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
20/11/1795    most recent
msg185v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (25)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wang, H.-Y.
Right arrow Articles by Wu, C.-I
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Wang, H.-Y.
Right arrow Articles by Wu, C.-I
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Mol. Biol. Evol. 20(11):1795-1804. 2003
DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msg185
© 2003 by the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. ISSN: 0737-4038

Rapidly Evolving Genes in Human. I. The Glycophorins and Their Possible Role in Evading Malaria Parasites

Hurng-Yi Wang*,{dagger},{ddagger}, Hua Tang{ddagger}, C.-K. James Shen{dagger} and Chung-I Wu{ddagger},

* Department of Biology, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan
{dagger} Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
{ddagger} Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago

E-mail: ciwu{at}uchicago.edu.

In an attempt to identify all fast-evolving genes between human and other primates, we found three glycophorins, GPA, GPB, and GPE, to have the highest rate of nonsynonymous substitutions among the 280 genes surveyed. The Ka/Ks ratios are generally greater than 3 for GPA, GPB, and GPE in human, chimpanzee, and gorilla, indicating positive selection. The uniformly high substitution rate across loci can be explained by the frequent sequence exchanges among genes. GPA is the receptor for the binding ligand EBA-175 of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. The levels of nonsynonymous divergence and polymorphism of EBA-175 are also the highest in the genome of P. falciparum. We hypothesize that GPA has been evolving rapidly to evade malaria parasites. Both the high rate of nonsynonymous substitutions and the frequent interlocus conversions may be means of evasion. The support for the evasion hypothesis is still indirect, but, unlike other hypotheses, it can be tested specifically and systematically.

Key Words: positive selection • glycophorin • malaria • gene conversion • rapid evolution


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
J. A. Wilder, E. K. Hewett, and M. E. Gansner
Molecular Evolution of GYPC: Evidence for Recent Structural Innovation and Positive Selection in Humans
Mol. Biol. Evol., December 1, 2009; 26(12): 2679 - 2687.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
S. M. Rich, F. H. Leendertz, G. Xu, M. LeBreton, C. F. Djoko, M. N. Aminake, E. E. Takang, J. L. D. Diffo, B. L. Pike, B. M. Rosenthal, et al.
From the Cover: The origin of malignant malaria
PNAS, September 1, 2009; 106(35): 14902 - 14907.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 BloodHome page
K. Hsu, N. Chi, M. Gucek, J. E. Van Eyk, R. N. Cole, M. Lin, and D. B. Foster
Miltenberger blood group antigen type III (Mi.III) enhances the expression of band 3
Blood, August 27, 2009; 114(9): 1919 - 1928.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
B. C. Verrelli, S. A. Tishkoff, A. C. Stone, and J. W. Touchman
Contrasting Histories of G6PD Molecular Evolution and Malarial Resistance in Humans and Chimpanzees
Mol. Biol. Evol., August 1, 2006; 23(8): 1592 - 1601.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Genome ResHome page
A. Varki and T. K. Altheide
Comparing the human and chimpanzee genomes: Searching for needles in a haystack
Genome Res., December 1, 2005; 15(12): 1746 - 1758.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
N. Osada, M. Hirata, R. Tanuma, J. Kusuda, M. Hida, Y. Suzuki, S. Sugano, T. Gojobori, C.-K. J. Shen, C.-I Wu, et al.
Substitution Rate and Structural Divergence of 5'UTR Evolution: Comparative Analysis Between Human and Cynomolgus Monkey cDNAs
Mol. Biol. Evol., October 1, 2005; 22(10): 1976 - 1982.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
M. J. Martin, J. C. Rayner, P. Gagneux, J. W. Barnwell, and A. Varki
Evolution of human-chimpanzee differences in malaria susceptibility: Relationship to human genetic loss of N-glycolylneuraminic acid
PNAS, September 6, 2005; 102(36): 12819 - 12824.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Am J Trop Med HygHome page
I. MORLAIS, N. PONCON, F. SIMARD, A. COHUET, and D. FONTENILLE
INTRASPECIFIC NUCLEOTIDE VARIATION IN ANOPHELES GAMBIAE: NEW INSIGHTS INTO THE BIOLOGY OF MALARIA VECTORS
Am J Trop Med Hyg, December 1, 2004; 71(6): 795 - 802.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
C.-T. Ting, S.-C. Tsaur, S. Sun, W. E. Browne, Y.-C. Chen, N. H. Patel, and C.-I Wu
Gene duplication and speciation in Drosophila: Evidence from the Odysseus locus
PNAS, August 17, 2004; 101(33): 12232 - 12235.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
L. C. Filip and N. I. Mundy
Rapid Evolution by Positive Darwinian Selection in the Extracellular Domain of the Abundant Lymphocyte Protein CD45 in Primates
Mol. Biol. Evol., August 1, 2004; 21(8): 1504 - 1511.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
D. C. G. Mayer, J.-B. Mu, O. Kaneko, J. Duan, X.-z. Su, and L. H. Miller
Polymorphism in the Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte-binding ligand JESEBL/EBA-181 alters its receptor specificity
PNAS, February 24, 2004; 101(8): 2518 - 2523.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
S.-H. Yeh, H.-Y. Wang, C.-Y. Tsai, C.-L. Kao, J.-Y. Yang, H.-W. Liu, I.-J. Su, S.-F. Tsai, D.-S. Chen, P.-J. Chen, et al.
Characterization of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus genomes in Taiwan: Molecular epidemiology and genome evolution
PNAS, February 24, 2004; 101(8): 2542 - 2547.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.