Whole-genome identification of neutrally evolving pseudogenes using the evolutionary measure dN/dS.
Starting with the assumption that they are dead copies of genes lacking functionality, and hence that they are not subjected to selective pressure, pseudogenes can be distinguished from protein-coding genes using neutrality and its measure. Here, we describe the different methods that allow to estimate neutral evolution by calculating the ratio between non-synonymous (i.e., causing an amino-acidic change) and synonymous (silent) substitutions and we discuss their application to the identification of pseudogenes.
Joint IRB-BSC Program on Computational Biology, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Barcelona, Spain, lisa.andrieux@bsc.es.
Lise Olivia
LO
Andrieux
David Torrents
DT
Arenales
D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D000818:Animals; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011544:Pseudogenes / Q000235:genetics*