The Effects of Stabilizing and Directional Selection on Phenotypic and Genotypic Variation in a Population of RNA Enzymes

0301 basic medicine 570 Genotype Molecular Sequence Data directional selection Azoarcus ribozymes 576 Evolution, Molecular 10127 Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies 03 medical and health sciences 1311 Genetics 1312 Molecular Biology RNA, Catalytic experimental evolution Selection, Genetic Biology 0303 health sciences Base Sequence Genetic Variation genotype to phenotype 1105 Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Phenotype stabilizing selection sequence space 13. Climate action 570 Life sciences; biology 590 Animals (Zoology) Nucleic Acid Conformation
DOI: 10.1007/s00239-013-9604-x Publication Date: 2013-12-05T06:43:28Z
ABSTRACT
The distribution of variation in a quantitative trait and its underlying distribution of genotypic diversity can both be shaped by stabilizing and directional selection. Understanding either distribution is important, because it determines a population's response to natural selection. Unfortunately, existing theory makes conflicting predictions about how selection shapes these distributions, and very little pertinent experimental evidence exists. Here we study a simple genetic system, an evolving RNA enzyme (ribozyme) in which a combination of high throughput genotyping and measurement of a biochemical phenotype allow us to address this question. We show that directional selection, compared to stabilizing selection, increases the genotypic diversity of an evolving ribozyme population. In contrast, it leaves the variance in the phenotypic trait unchanged.
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