A gene which carries a bona fide loss-of-function mutation effectively becomes a functionless pseudogene, free from selective constraint. However, there is a number of molecular mechanisms that may lead to at least a partial preservation of the function of genes carrying even drastic alleles. We performed a direct measurement of the strength of negative selection acting on nonsense alleles of protein-coding genes in the Zambian population of Drosophila melanogaster. Within those exons that carry nonsense mutations, negative selection, assayed by the ratio of missense over synonymous nucleotide diversity levels, appears to be absent, consistent with total loss of function. In other exons of nonsense alleles, negative selection was deeply relaxed but likely not completely absent, and the per site number of missense alleles declined significantly with the distance from the premature stop codon. This pattern may be due to alternative splicing which preserves function of some isoforms of nonsense alleles of genes.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5888714 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evy032 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
An alternatively translated isoform of PPARG proposes AF-1 domain inhibition as an insulin sensitization target.
Diabetes
January 2025
Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
PPARγ is the pharmacological target of thiazolidinediones (TZDs), potent insulin sensitizers that prevent metabolic disease morbidity but are accompanied by side effects such as weight gain, in part due to non-physiological transcriptional agonism. Using high throughput genome engineering, we targeted nonsense mutations to every exon of PPARG, finding an ATG in Exon 2 (chr3:12381414, CCDS2609 c.A403) that functions as an alternative translational start site.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnalysis of pathogenic variants in retinoblastoma reveals a potential gain of function mutation.
Genes Cancer
January 2025
Laboratorio de Interacciones Biomoleculares y Cáncer, Instituto de Física Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí 78210, México.
is a gene that codes for a tumour suppressor protein involved in various types of cancer. It was first described in retinoblastoma and is segregated as an autosomal dominant trait with high penetrance. In 1971, Knudson proposed his hypothesis of the two hits, where two mutational events are required to initiate tumour progression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFriedreich ataxia: what can we learn from non-GAA repeat mutations?
Neurodegener Dis Manag
January 2025
Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) is a slowly progressive neurological disease resulting from decreased levels of the protein frataxin, a small mitochondrial protein that facilitates the synthesis of iron-sulfur clusters in the mitochondrion. It is caused by GAA (guanine-adenine-adenine) repeat expansions in the gene in 96% of patients, with 4% of patients carrying other mutations (missense, nonsense, deletion) in the gene. Compound heterozygote patients with one expanded GAA allele and a non-GAA repeat mutation can have subtle differences in phenotype from typical FRDA, including, in patients with selected missense mutations, both more severe features and less severe features in the same patient.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTriple mosaic variants of PURA in a patient with multiple congenital anomalies.
J Hum Genet
January 2025
Department of Human Genetics, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan.
In monogenic diseases, double mosaic variants of the same gene have rarely been identified. Here, we report the case of triple mosaic variants in PURA, a gene responsible for a neurodevelopmental syndrome (OMIM# 616158). Whole-exome sequencing identified three somatic PURA variants in our case with a similar neurodevelopmental syndrome: NM_005859.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA Humanized Monoclonal Antibody Against CD300A Ameliorates Acute Ischemic Stroke in Humanized Mice.
Monoclon Antib Immunodiagn Immunother
January 2025
Department of Immunology, Institute of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.
CD300a and CD300A, among the CD300 immunoglobulin (Ig)-like receptor family members in mice and humans, respectively, are expressed on myeloid cell lineage. The interaction of CD300a and CD300A with their ligands phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylethanolamine, respectively, exposed on the plasma membrane of dead cells mediate an inhibitory signal in myeloid cells. We previously reported that a neutralizing antimouse CD300a monoclonal antibody (mAb) enhanced efferocytosis by macrophages and ameliorated acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!