title: Why proteins evolve at different rates: the functional hypothesis versus the mistranslation-induced protein misfolding hypothesis.
abstract: Protein evolutionary rates have been presumed to be mostly determined by the density of functionally important amino acids in a given protein. They have been shown to correlate with variables intuitively related to functional importance of proteins, such as protein dispensability and protein-protein interactions. Surprisingly, the best correlate of the evolutionary rates has turned out to be not the functional importance of a protein, but the expression level of the protein. Drummond and Wilke suggest that the dominant role of expression levels in slowing the rate of protein evolution stems from a selection pressure against mistranslation-induced protein misfolding. We will review current evidence for and against different hypotheses on determining evolutionary rates.
authors.affiliation: Howard Huges Medical Institute, Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Donghyun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Sun Shim
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D008954:Models, Biological; D017510:Protein Folding; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins