title: Evolutionary genomics: detecting selection needs comparative data.
abstract: Positive selection at the molecular level is usually indicated by an increase in the ratio of non-synonymous to synonymous substitutions (dN/dS) in comparative data. However, Plotkin et al. describe a new method for detecting positive selection based on a single nucleotide sequence. We show here that this method is particularly sensitive to assumptions regarding the underlying mutational processes and does not provide a reliable way to identify positive selection.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Bioinformatics, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. rasmus@binf.ku.dk
authors.forename: Rasmus
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: Melissa J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hubisz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003062:Codon / Q000235:genetics*; D016678:Genome; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods*; D008957:Models, Genetic; D016296:Mutagenesis / Q000235:genetics; D020125:Mutation, Missense / Q000235:genetics; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000235:genetics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012641:Selection, Genetic
chemical_list: D003062:Codon