期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:1991
卷号:88
期号:22
页码:10032-10036
DOI:10.1073/pnas.88.22.10032
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:It has often been suggested that the frequently observed Watson-Crick base-pair compensatory substitutions in RNA helical structures occur mainly through a slightly deleterious G.U intermediate state. We have scored base substitutions in a set of 82 related Drosophila species for the D1 and D2 variable domains of the large rRNA subunit. In all locations where a G-C in equilibrium with A-U compensatory base change occurred, a G.U pair has been observed in one or several species. As this dominant process implies two transitions, their rate was far higher in paired regions (92%) than in unpaired regions (47%). The other types of compensation were rarer and no intermediate states were observed. Most of the G.U base pairs observed in a species are not slightly deleterious. The rate of evolution of compensatory substitution is close to that predicted by a simple model of compensatory substitution through slightly deleterious or slightly advantageous G.U pairs, although some exceptions are presented.