LDH-A and alpha-actin as tools to assess the effects of temperature on the vertebrate genome: some problems.
In a recent paper written with the purpose of shedding light on the question of whether genomic GC levels are related to temperature in vertebrates, Ream et al. [Mol. Biol. Evol. 20 (2003) 105] offered an analysis of two sets of homologous genes: those coding for alpha-actin and lactate dehydrogenase-A (LDH-A). The conclusion was that "there is no consistent relationship between adaptation temperature and the percentage of thermal stability-enhancing G+C base pairs in protein-coding genes". We argue here that the data presented neither prove nor suggest such a conclusion because of conceptual and methodological errors.
Clay
Oliver
O
Laboratorio di Evoluzione Molecolare, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121, Naples, Italy.
Arhondakis
Stilianos
S
D'Onofrio
Giuseppe
G
Bernardi
Giorgio
G
D000199:Actins / Q000235:genetics*; D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D001482:Base Composition / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D001831:Body Temperature / Q000235:genetics; D003062:Codon / Q000235:genetics; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D020862:GC Rich Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016678:Genome; D006801:Humans; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000235:genetics*; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics*; D000080864:Lactate Dehydrogenase 5; D008957:Models, Genetic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013696:Temperature; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000235:genetics*; D014981:Xenopus
D000199:Actins; D003062:Codon; D007527:Isoenzymes; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase; D000080864:Lactate Dehydrogenase 5