scholarly journals A63 Quantifying the dynamics of evolutionary rates through time

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
J V Membrebe ◽  
G Baele ◽  
M A Suchard ◽  
P Lemey

Abstract The availability of evolutionary rate estimates in recent years led to the observation that they may depend on the time-scale on which they are measured. Specifically, RNA virus evolutionary rates are frequently estimated to be low towards the past and high towards the present. This time-dependent rate phenomenon (TDRP) has important implications for evolutionary studies as it could severely bias divergence time estimates. While recent studies are providing insights into the relationship between viral evolutionary rate and time, formal probabilistic models to draw inference under TDRP scenarios remain lacking. Here, we adopt epoch-modelling to develop a Bayesian model of discrete rate changes through time in an unknown evolutionary history and combine this with a log-linear parameterization of rates as a function of times in the past. We provide an implementation for nucleotide substitution rates as well as for nonsynonymous rates change in a codon substitution model. Using a foamy virus dataset for which internal node calibrations can be applied based on host-virus co-divergence, we estimate a significant decline in evolutionary rates as a function of time into the past for nucleotide substitutions as well as for non-synonymous substitutions in a codon model. We also estimate a deep evolutionary history for primate Lentiviruses by combining an HIV-1 group M node calibration and a biogeographic calibration for viruses in drill monkeys in the TDRP model. Our analyses lead to the conclusion that studies of evolutionary timescales require a reconsideration of substitution rates, in either codon and nucleotide substitution model, as a dynamic feature of molecular evolution.

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 1793-1803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jade Vincent Membrebe ◽  
Marc A Suchard ◽  
Andrew Rambaut ◽  
Guy Baele ◽  
Philippe Lemey

AbstractMany factors complicate the estimation of time scales for phylogenetic histories, requiring increasingly complex evolutionary models and inference procedures. The widespread application of molecular clock dating has led to the insight that evolutionary rate estimates may vary with the time frame of measurement. This is particularly well established for rapidly evolving viruses that can accumulate sequence divergence over years or even months. However, this rapid evolution stands at odds with a relatively high degree of conservation of viruses or endogenous virus elements over much longer time scales. Building on recent insights into time-dependent evolutionary rates, we develop a formal and flexible Bayesian statistical inference approach that accommodates rate variation through time. We evaluate the novel molecular clock model on a foamy virus cospeciation history and a lentivirus evolutionary history and compare the performance to other molecular clock models. For both virus examples, we estimate a similarly strong time-dependent effect that implies rates varying over four orders of magnitude. The application of an analogous codon substitution model does not implicate long-term purifying selection as the cause of this effect. However, selection does appear to affect divergence time estimates for the less deep evolutionary history of the Ebolavirus genus. Finally, we explore the application of our approach on woolly mammoth ancient DNA data, which shows a much weaker, but still important, time-dependent rate effect that has a noticeable impact on node age estimates. Future developments aimed at incorporating more complex evolutionary processes will further add to the broad applicability of our approach.


2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
THOMAS J. NEAR

Hypotheses concerning the diversification of notothenioid fishes have relied extensively on estimates of divergence times using molecular clock methods. The timing of diversification of the cold adapted antifreeze glycoprotein (AFGP)-bearing Antarctic notothenioid clade in the middle to late Miocene has been correlated with the onset of polar climatic conditions along the Antarctic Continental Shelf. Critical examination of the previous molecular clock analyses of notothenioids reveals several problems associated with heterogeneity of nucleotide substitution rates among lineages, the application of potentially inappropriate nucleotide substitution rates, and the lack of confidence intervals for divergence time estimates. In this study, the notothenioid partial gene mtDNA 12S-16S rRNA (PG-rRNA) molecular clock was reanalysed using a tree-based maximum likelihood strategy that attempts to account for rate heterogeneity of nucleotide substitution rates among lineages using the penalized likelihood method, and bootstrap resampling to estimate confidence intervals of divergence time estimates. The molecular clock was calibrated using the notothenioid fossil Proeleginops grandeastmanorum. Divergence time estimates for all nodes in the PG-rRNA maximum likelihood tree were substantially older than previous estimates. In particular, the estimated age of the AFGP-bearing Antarctic notothenioid clade predates the onset of extensive sea ice and development of polar conditions by at least 10 million years. Despite caveats involving the fossil calibration and limitations of the PG-rRNA dataset, these divergence time estimates provide initial observations for the development of a novel model of the diversification of cold adapted Antarctic notothenioid fishes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Weizhao Yang ◽  
Nathalie Feiner ◽  
Catarina Pinho ◽  
Geoffrey M. While ◽  
Antigoni Kaliontzopoulou ◽  
...  

AbstractThe Mediterranean basin is a hotspot of biodiversity, fuelled by climatic oscillation and geological change over the past 20 million years. Wall lizards of the genus Podarcis are among the most abundant, diverse, and conspicuous Mediterranean fauna. Here, we unravel the remarkably entangled evolutionary history of wall lizards by sequencing genomes of 34 major lineages covering 26 species. We demonstrate an early (>11 MYA) separation into two clades centred on the Iberian and Balkan Peninsulas, and two clades of Mediterranean island endemics. Diversification within these clades was pronounced between 6.5–4.0 MYA, a period spanning the Messinian Salinity Crisis, during which the Mediterranean Sea nearly dried up before rapidly refilling. However, genetic exchange between lineages has been a pervasive feature throughout the entire history of wall lizards. This has resulted in a highly reticulated pattern of evolution across the group, characterised by mosaic genomes with major contributions from two or more parental taxa. These hybrid lineages gave rise to several of the extant species that are endemic to Mediterranean islands. The mosaic genomes of island endemics may have promoted their extraordinary adaptability and striking diversity in body size, shape and colouration, which have puzzled biologists for centuries.


Genetics ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 143 (1) ◽  
pp. 537-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudhir Kumar

Abstract Maximum likelihood methods were used to study the differences in substitution rates among the four nucleotides and among different nucleotide sites in mitochondrial protein-coding genes of vertebrates. In the lst+2nd codon position data, the frequency of nucleotide G is negatively correlated with evolutionary rates of genes, substitution rates vary substantially among sites, and the transition / transversion rate bias (R) is two to five times larger than that expected at random. Generally, largest transition biases and greatest differences in substitution rates among sites are found in the highly conserved genes. The 3rd positions in placental mammal genes exhibit strong nucleotide composition biases and the transitional rates exceed transversional rates by one to two orders of magnitude. Tamura-Nei and Hasegawa-Kishino-Yano models with gamma distributed variable rates among sites (gamma parameter, α) adequately describe the nucleotide substitution process in 1st+2nd position data. In these data, ignoring differences in substitution rates among sites leads to largest biases while estimating substitution rates. Kimura's two-parameter model with variable-rates among sites performs satisfactorily in likelihood estimation of R, α, and overall amount of evolution for lst+2nd position data. It can also be used to estimate pairwise distances with appropriate values of α for a majority of genes.


Genetics ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 146 (1) ◽  
pp. 393-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spencer V Muse ◽  
Brandon S Gaut

Even when several genetic loci are used in molecular evolutionary studies, each locus is typically analyzed independently of the others. This type of approach makes it difficult to study mechanisms and processes that affect multiple genes. In this work we develop a statistical approach for the joint analysis of two or more loci. The tests we propose examine whether or not nucleotide substitution rates across evolutionary lineages have the same relative proportions at two loci. Theses procedures are applied to 33 genes from the chloroplast genomes of rice, tobacco, pine, and liverwort. With the exception of five clearly distinct loci, we find that synonymous substitution rates tend to change proportionally across genes. We interpret these results to be consistent with a “lineage effect” acting on the entire chloroplast genome. In contrast, nonsynonymous rates do not change proportionally across genes, suggesting that locus-specific evolutionary effects dominate patterns of nonsynonymous substitution.


2006 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 117693430600200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurent Gatto ◽  
Daniele Catanzaro ◽  
Michel C. Milinkovitch

2004 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 2029-2036 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josephine M. McAuliffe ◽  
Sonja R. Surman ◽  
Jason T. Newman ◽  
Jeffrey M. Riggs ◽  
Peter L. Collins ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The Y942H and L992F temperature-sensitive (ts) and attenuating amino acid substitution mutations, previously identified in the L polymerase of the HPIV3cp45 vaccine candidate, were introduced into homologous positions of the L polymerase of recombinant human parainfluenza virus type 1 (rHPIV1). In rHPIV1, the Y942H mutation specified the ts phenotype in vitro and the attenuation (att) phenotype in hamsters, whereas the L992F mutation specified neither phenotype. Each of these codon mutations was generated by a single nucleotide substitution and therefore had the potential to readily revert to a codon specifying the wild-type amino acid residue. We introduced alternative amino acid assignments at codon 942 or 992 as a strategy to increase genetic stability and to generate mutants that exhibit a range of attenuation. Twenty-three recombinants with codon substitutions at position 942 or 992 of the L protein were viable. One highly ts and att mutant, the Y942A virus, which had a difference of three nucleotides from the codon encoding a wild-type tyrosine, also possessed a high level of genetic and phenotypic stability upon serial passage in vitro at restrictive temperatures compared to that of the parent Y942H virus, which possessed a single nucleotide substitution. We obtained mutants with substitutions at position 992 that, in contrast to the L992F virus, possessed the ts and att phenotypes. These findings identify the use of alternative codon substitution mutations as a method that can be used to generate candidate vaccine viruses with increased genetic stability and/or a modified level of attenuation.


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