- THIS ARTICLE
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Data Supplement
-
All Versions of this Article:
genetics.106.066027v1
175/1/199 most recent - Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- SERVICES
- Email this article to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Alert me to new issues of the journal
- Download to citation manager
- Reprints & Permissions
- CITING ARTICLES
- Citing Articles via Google Scholar
- GOOGLE SCHOLAR
- Articles by Choi, J. K.
- Articles by Bhak, J.
- Search for Related Content
- PUBMED
- PubMed Citation
- Articles by Choi, J. K.
- Articles by Bhak, J.
Originally published as Genetics Published Articles Ahead of Print on October 22, 2006.
Genetics, Vol. 175, 199-206, January 2007, Copyright © 2007
doi:10.1534/genetics.106.066027
Impact of Transcriptional Properties on Essentiality and Evolutionary Rate
Jung Kyoon Choi*,
Sang Cheol Kim
,
Jungmin Seo*,
Sangsoo Kim1,
and
Jong Bhak*,1,2
* Korean BioInformation Center, KRIBB, Daejeon 305-806, Korea, Department of Applied Statistics, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749, Korea and Department of Bioinformatics and Life Science, Soongsil University, Seoul 156-743, Korea
2 Corresponding author: Korean BioInformation Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, 52 Eoeun-dong, Yooseong-goo, Daejeon 305-333, Korea.
E-mail: jong{at}kribb.re.kr
We characterized general transcriptional activity and variability of eukaryotic genes from global expression profiles of human, mouse, rat, fly, plants, and yeast. The variability shows a higher degree of divergence between distant species, implying that it is more closely related to phenotypic evolution, than the activity. More specifically, we show that transcriptional variability should be a true indicator of evolutionary rate. If we rule out the effect of translational selection, which seems to operate only in yeast, the apparent slow evolution of highly expressed genes should be attributed to their low variability. Meanwhile, rapidly evolving genes may acquire a high level of transcriptional variability and contribute to phenotypic variations. Essentiality also seems to be correlated with the variability, not the activity. We show that indispensable or highly interactive proteins tend to be present in high abundance to maintain a low variability. Our results challenge the current theory that highly expressed genes are essential and evolve slowly. Transcriptional variability, rather than transcriptional activity, might be a common indicator of essentiality and evolutionary rate, contributing to the correlation between the two variables.
 |