Joanna MaselSep 6, 2024
Our latest paper https://elifesciences.org/articles/87335
directly measures the #EffectivePopulationSize that matters to #NearlyNeutralTheory / #DriftBarrier theory, as the degree to which #CodonBias differs from expectations from GC content. Surprisingly, stronger #NaturalSelection -> higher #IntrinsicStructuralDisorder proteins
#MolecularEvolution #PopulationGenetics #EvolgenPaper 1/
The protein domains of vertebrate species in which selection is more effective have greater intrinsic structural disorder

Proteins evolve more intrinsic structural disorder under more effective selection, with selection assessed via a novel metric of codon adaptation.

eLife
Joanna MaselJun 15, 2023
Our preprint describes how #EffectivePopulationSize affects #AminoAcid usage. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.02.01.526552v2. Within highly exchangeable pairs of amino acids, high Ne species are able to prefer #arginine over #lysine, and #valine over #isoleucine. This matches #thermophile preferences, as expected from theories of marginal protein stability at mutation-selection-drift balance. 1/6
@hanonmcshea #NearlyNeutralTheory #MolecularEvolution #EvolgenPaper
Joanna MaselMar 4, 2023
Our latest #preprint develops a new metric of #CodonAdaptation (not just #CodonBias) to measure the kind of #EffectivePopulationSize that matters to #NearlyNeutralTheory, and uses it to discover that #NaturalSelection prefers high #IntrinsicStructuralDisorder https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.03.02.530449v1 1/6
#MolecularEvolution #PopulationGenetics #EvolgenPaper