Codon usage and selection on proteins.

Abstract excerpt

Selection pressures on proteins are usually measured by comparing homologous nucleotide sequences (Zuckerkandl and Pauling 1965). Recently we introduced a novel method, termed volatility, to estimate selection pressures on proteins on the basis of their synonymous codon usage (Plotkin and Dushoff 2003; Plotkin et al. 2004). Here we provide a theoretical foundation for this approach. Under the Fisher-Wright model,...

Topics

• Algorithms
• Alleles
• Codon
• Evolution, Molecular
• Models, Genetic
• Proteins
• Selection, Genetic