2025/03/06 by Alexander L. Cope, Joshua G. Schraiber, Matthew W. Pennell · 1 voice · 18 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Abundance (ecology) #Biology #Computational biology #Divergence (linguistics) #Ecology #Evolutionary biology #Functional divergence #Gene #Gene expression #Gene family #Genetics #Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies #Messenger RNA #Phylogenetic tree #RNA Research and Splicing #RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms #Selection (genetic algorithm)
paper · doi:10.1126/science.ads2658
published in Science 387(6738), 1063-1068 (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
openalex publication_date 2025/03/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The regulation of messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein abundances is well-studied, but less is known about the evolutionary processes shaping their relationship. To address this, we derived a new phylogenetic model and applied it to multispecies mammalian data. Our analyses reveal (i) strong stabilizing selection on protein abundances over macroevolutionary time, (ii) mutations affecting mRNA abundances minimally impact protein abundances, (iii) mRNA abundances evolve under selection to align with protein abundances, and (iv) mRNA abundances adapt faster than protein abundances owing to greater mutational opportunity. These conclusions are supported by comparisons of model parameters with independent functional genomic data. By decomposing mutational and selective influences on mRNA-protein dynamics, our approach provides a framework for discovering the evolutionary rules that drive divergence in gene expression.