Evolutionary constraints to viroid evolution

We suggest that viroids are trapped into adaptive peaks as the result of adaptive constraints. The first one is imposed by the necessity to fold into packed structures to escape from RNA silencing. This creates antagonistic epistases, which make future adaptive trajectories contingent upon the first...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Elena, Santiago F., Gómez, Gustavo, Daròs Arnau, José Antonio
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2009
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/18450
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/18450
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:viroids
viroids evolution
epistasis
evolutionary constraints
genome complexity
RNA folding
Descripción
Sumario:We suggest that viroids are trapped into adaptive peaks as the result of adaptive constraints. The first one is imposed by the necessity to fold into packed structures to escape from RNA silencing. This creates antagonistic epistases, which make future adaptive trajectories contingent upon the first mutation and slow down the rate of adaptation. This second constraint can only be surpassed by increasing genetic redundancy or by recombination. Eigen’s paradox imposes a limit to the increase in genome complexity in the absence of mechanisms reducing mutation rate. Therefore, recombination appears as the only possible route to evolutionary innovation in viroids.