Conditional Expression Explains Molecular Evolution of Social Genes in a Microbe

Overview

Journal Nat Commun

Specialty Biology

Date 2019 Jul 25

PMID 31337766

Citations 14

Authors

Janaina Lima de Oliveira

Atahualpa Castillo Morales

Balint Stewart

Nicole Gruenheit

Jennifer Engelmoer

Suzanne Battom Brown

Reinaldo A de Brito

Laurence D Hurst

Araxi O Urrutia

Christopher R L Thompson

Jason B Wolf

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Conflict is thought to play a critical role in the evolution of social interactions by promoting diversity or driving accelerated evolution. However, despite our sophisticated understanding of how conflict shapes social traits, we have limited knowledge of how it impacts molecular evolution across the underlying social genes. Here we address this problem by analyzing the genome-wide impact of social interactions using genome sequences from 67 Dictyostelium discoideum strains. We find that social genes tend to exhibit enhanced polymorphism and accelerated evolution. However, these patterns are not consistent with conflict driven processes, but instead reflect relaxed purifying selection. This pattern is most likely explained by the conditional nature of social interactions, whereby selection on genes expressed only in social interactions is diluted by generations of inactivity. This dilution of selection by inactivity enhances the role of drift, leading to increased polymorphism and accelerated evolution, which we call the Red King process.

Citing Articles

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Reduced social function in experimentally evolved implies selection for social conflict in nature.

Larsen T, Jahan I, Brock D, Strassmann J, Queller D Proc Biol Sci. 2023; 290(2013):20231722.

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Open questions in the social lives of viruses.

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Parallel evolution of the G protein-coupled receptor GrlG and the loss of fruiting body formation in the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum evolved under low relatedness.

Walker L, Sherpa R, Ivaturi S, Brock D, Larsen T, Walker J G3 (Bethesda). 2023; 14(1).

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Signatures of kin selection in a natural population of the bacteria .

Belcher L, Dewar A, Hao C, Ghoul M, West S Evol Lett. 2023; 7(5):315-330.

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