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Little Evidence the Standard Genetic Code Is Optimized for Resource Conservation
Selection for resource conservation can shape the coding sequences of organisms living in nutrient-limited environments. Recently, it was proposed that selection for resource conservation, specifically for nitrogen and carbon content, has also shaped the structure of the standard genetic code, such...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Oxford University Press
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8557452/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34373928 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msab236 |
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author | Rozhoňová, Hana Payne, Joshua L |
author_facet | Rozhoňová, Hana Payne, Joshua L |
author_sort | Rozhoňová, Hana |
collection | PubMed |
description | Selection for resource conservation can shape the coding sequences of organisms living in nutrient-limited environments. Recently, it was proposed that selection for resource conservation, specifically for nitrogen and carbon content, has also shaped the structure of the standard genetic code, such that the missense mutations the code allows tend to cause small increases in the number of nitrogen and carbon atoms in amino acids. Moreover, it was proposed that this optimization is not confounded by known optimizations of the standard genetic code, such as for polar requirement or hydropathy. We challenge these claims. We show the proposed optimization for nitrogen conservation is highly sensitive to choice of null model and the proposed optimization for carbon conservation is confounded by the known conservative nature of the standard genetic code with respect to the molecular volume of amino acids. There is therefore little evidence the standard genetic code is optimized for resource conservation. We discuss our findings in the context of null models of the standard genetic code. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8557452 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Oxford University Press |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-85574522021-11-01 Little Evidence the Standard Genetic Code Is Optimized for Resource Conservation Rozhoňová, Hana Payne, Joshua L Mol Biol Evol Discoveries Selection for resource conservation can shape the coding sequences of organisms living in nutrient-limited environments. Recently, it was proposed that selection for resource conservation, specifically for nitrogen and carbon content, has also shaped the structure of the standard genetic code, such that the missense mutations the code allows tend to cause small increases in the number of nitrogen and carbon atoms in amino acids. Moreover, it was proposed that this optimization is not confounded by known optimizations of the standard genetic code, such as for polar requirement or hydropathy. We challenge these claims. We show the proposed optimization for nitrogen conservation is highly sensitive to choice of null model and the proposed optimization for carbon conservation is confounded by the known conservative nature of the standard genetic code with respect to the molecular volume of amino acids. There is therefore little evidence the standard genetic code is optimized for resource conservation. We discuss our findings in the context of null models of the standard genetic code. Oxford University Press 2021-08-09 /pmc/articles/PMC8557452/ /pubmed/34373928 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msab236 Text en © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com |
spellingShingle | Discoveries Rozhoňová, Hana Payne, Joshua L Little Evidence the Standard Genetic Code Is Optimized for Resource Conservation |
title | Little Evidence the Standard Genetic Code Is Optimized for Resource Conservation |
title_full | Little Evidence the Standard Genetic Code Is Optimized for Resource Conservation |
title_fullStr | Little Evidence the Standard Genetic Code Is Optimized for Resource Conservation |
title_full_unstemmed | Little Evidence the Standard Genetic Code Is Optimized for Resource Conservation |
title_short | Little Evidence the Standard Genetic Code Is Optimized for Resource Conservation |
title_sort | little evidence the standard genetic code is optimized for resource conservation |
topic | Discoveries |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8557452/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34373928 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msab236 |
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