Molecular Biology and Evolution 18:523-529 (2001)
© 2001 Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
ARTICLE |
Positive and Negative Selection in the DAZ Gene Family
Department of Biology, Galton Laboratory, University College London, London, England
Because a microdeletion containing the DAZ gene is the most frequently observed deletion in infertile men, the DAZ gene was considered a strong candidate for the azoospermia factor. A recent evolutionary analysis, however, suggested that DAZ was free from functional constraints and consequently played little or no role in human spermatogenesis. The major evidence for this surprising conclusion is that the nonsynonymous substitution rate is similar to the synonymous rate and to the rate in introns. In this study, we reexamined the evolution of the DAZ gene family by using maximum-likelihood methods, which accommodate variable selective pressures among sites or among branches. The results suggest that DAZ is not free from functional constraints. Most amino acids in DAZ are under strong selective constraint, while a few sites are under diversifying selection with nonsynonymous/ synonymous rate ratios (dN/dS) well above 1. As a result, the average dN/dS ratio over sites is not a sensible measure of selective pressure on the protein. Lineage-specific analysis indicated that human members of this gene family were evolving by positive Darwinian selection, although the evidence was not strong.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  K. B. Walters, P. Grant, and D. L. E. Johnson Evolution of the GST Omega Gene Family in 12 Drosophila Species J. Hered., July 16, 2009; (2009) esp043v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 D. T. Gerrard and D. A. Filatov Positive and Negative Selection on Mammalian Y Chromosomes Mol. Biol. Evol., June 1, 2005; 22(6): 1423 - 1432. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
Z. Yang, W. S.W. Wong, and R. Nielsen Bayes Empirical Bayes Inference of Amino Acid Sites Under Positive Selection Mol. Biol. Evol., April 1, 2005; 22(4): 1107 - 1118. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 E. J. Vallender and B. T. Lahn Positive selection on the human genome Hum. Mol. Genet., October 1, 2004; 13(suppl_2): R245 - R254. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. Guindon, A. G. Rodrigo, K. A. Dyer, and J. P. Huelsenbeck Modeling the site-specific variation of selection patterns along lineages PNAS, August 31, 2004; 101(35): 12957 - 12962. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. Schein, Z. Yang, T. Mitchell-Olds, and K. J. Schmid Rapid Evolution of a Pollen-Specific Oleosin-Like Gene Family from Arabidopsis thaliana and Closely Related Species Mol. Biol. Evol., April 1, 2004; 21(4): 659 - 669. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
Y. Lu and M. D. Rausher Evolutionary Rate Variation in Anthocyanin Pathway Genes Mol. Biol. Evol., November 1, 2003; 20(11): 1844 - 1853. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. S. Choi and B. T. Lahn Adaptive Evolution of MRG, a Neuron-Specific Gene Family Implicated in Nociception Genome Res., October 1, 2003; 13(10): 2252 - 2259. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
X. Bailly, R. Leroy, S. Carney, O. Collin, F. Zal, A. Toulmond, and D. Jollivet The loss of the hemoglobin H2S-binding function in annelids from sulfide-free habitats reveals molecular adaptation driven by Darwinian positive selection PNAS, May 13, 2003; 100(10): 5885 - 5890. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
L. C. Hileman and D. A. Baum Why Do Paralogs Persist? Molecular Evolution of CYCLOIDEA and Related Floral Symmetry Genes in Antirrhineae (Veronicaceae) Mol. Biol. Evol., April 1, 2003; 20(4): 591 - 600. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
E. Y. Xu, D. F. Lee, A. Klebes, P. J. Turek, T. B. Kornberg, and R. A. Reijo Pera Human BOULE gene rescues meiotic defects in infertile flies Hum. Mol. Genet., January 15, 2003; 12(2): 169 - 175. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Civetta Positive Selection Within Sperm-Egg Adhesion Domains of Fertilin: An ADAM Gene with a Potential Role in Fertilization Mol. Biol. Evol., January 1, 2003; 20(1): 21 - 29. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. Yang, J. Huang, H. Gu, Y. Zhong, and Z. Yang Duplication and Adaptive Evolution of the Chalcone Synthase Genes of Dendranthema (Asteraceae) Mol. Biol. Evol., October 1, 2002; 19(10): 1752 - 1759. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
T. Dagan, Y. Talmor, and D. Graur Ratios of Radical to Conservative Amino Acid Replacement are Affected by Mutational and Compositional Factors and May Not Be Indicative of Positive Darwinian Selection Mol. Biol. Evol., July 1, 2002; 19(7): 1022 - 1025. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
D. A. Filatov and D. Charlesworth Substitution Rates in the X- and Y-Linked Genes of the Plants, Silene latifolia and S. dioica Mol. Biol. Evol., June 1, 2002; 19(6): 898 - 907. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
Z. Yang and W. J. Swanson Codon-Substitution Models to Detect Adaptive Evolution that Account for Heterogeneous Selective Pressures Among Site Classes Mol. Biol. Evol., January 1, 2002; 19(1): 49 - 57. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
E. Y. Xu, F. L. Moore, and R. A. R. Pera A gene family required for human germ cell development evolved from an ancient meiotic gene conserved in metazoans PNAS, May 30, 2001; (2001) 131090498. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
E. Y. Xu, F. L. Moore, and R. A. R. Pera From the Cover: A gene family required for human germ cell development evolved from an ancient meiotic gene conserved in metazoans PNAS, June 19, 2001; 98(13): 7414 - 7419. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|