Protein Robustness Promotes Evolutionary Innovations On Large Evolutionary Time Scales

Main Category: Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 18 Apr 2008 - 8:00 PDT

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Do some biological systems have a greater ability to innovate than others? Previous work suggests that a protein molecule's ability to evolve neutrally may facilitate evolutionary innovations.

Here, we ask whether this ability - a measure of a molecule's robustness - facilitates evolutionary innovation on large time scales.

Based on two complementary measures of functional diversity, we show that more robust proteins have produced more functional innovations in their evolutionary history.

Our observations suggest that a protein structure`s robustness may be an important determinant of its ability to innovate.

Proceedings B is the Royal Society's flagship biological research journal, dedicated to the rapid publication and broad dissemination of high-quality research papers, reviews and comment and reply papers. The scope of journal is diverse and is especially strong in organismal biology.
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