dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaCompensatory mutations cause excess of antagonistic epistasis in RNA secondary structure folding
| Authors | Claus O Wilke, Richard E Lenski, Christoph Adami |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0302061 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0302061 |
| Journal | BMC Evolutionary Biology 3:3 (2003) |
Abstract
Background: The rate at which fitness declines as an organism's genome accumulates random mutations is an important variable in several evolutionary theories. At an intuitive level, it might seem natural that random mutations should tend to interact synergistically, such that the rate of mean fitness decline accelerates as the number of random mutations is increased. However, in a number of recent studies, a prevalence of antagonistic epistasis (the tendency of multiple mutations to have a mitigating rather than reinforcing effect) has been observed. Results: We studied in silico the net amount and form of epistatic interactions in RNA secondary structure folding by measuring the fraction of neutral mutants as a function of mutational distance d. We found a clear prevalence of antagonistic epistasis in RNA secondary structure folding. By relating the fraction of neutral mutants at distance d to the average neutrality at distance d, we showed that this prevalence derives from the existence of many compensatory mutations at larger mutational distances. Conclusions: Our findings imply that the average direction of epistasis in simple fitness landscapes is directly related to the density with which fitness peaks are distributed in these landscapes.
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"abstract": "Background: The rate at which fitness declines as an organism\u0027s genome\naccumulates random mutations is an important variable in several evolutionary\ntheories. At an intuitive level, it might seem natural that random mutations\nshould tend to interact synergistically, such that the rate of mean fitness\ndecline accelerates as the number of random mutations is increased. However, in\na number of recent studies, a prevalence of antagonistic epistasis (the\ntendency of multiple mutations to have a mitigating rather than reinforcing\neffect) has been observed.\n Results: We studied in silico the net amount and form of epistatic\ninteractions in RNA secondary structure folding by measuring the fraction of\nneutral mutants as a function of mutational distance d. We found a clear\nprevalence of antagonistic epistasis in RNA secondary structure folding. By\nrelating the fraction of neutral mutants at distance d to the average\nneutrality at distance d, we showed that this prevalence derives from the\nexistence of many compensatory mutations at larger mutational distances.\n Conclusions: Our findings imply that the average direction of epistasis in\nsimple fitness landscapes is directly related to the density with which fitness\npeaks are distributed in these landscapes.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0302061",
"authors": [
"Claus O Wilke",
"Richard E Lenski",
"Christoph Adami"
],
"categories": [
"physics.bio-ph",
"cond-mat.soft",
"nlin.AO",
"q-bio.PE"
],
"journal_ref": "BMC Evolutionary Biology 3:3 (2003)",
"title": "Compensatory mutations cause excess of antagonistic epistasis in RNA secondary structure folding",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0302061"
},
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