Lowly Expressed Human MicroRNA Genes Evolve Rapidly
Author(s) -
Han Liang,
WenHsiung Li
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
molecular biology and evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.637
H-Index - 218
eISSN - 1537-1719
pISSN - 0737-4038
DOI - 10.1093/molbev/msp053
Subject(s) - biology , microrna , gene , genetics , evolutionary biology , sequence (biology) , gene expression , computational biology
To study the evolution of human microRNAs (miRNAs), we examined nucleotide variation in humans, sequence divergence between species, and genomic clustering patterns for miRNAs with different expression levels. We found that expression level is a major indicator of the rate of evolution and that approximately 30% of currently annotated human miRNA genes are almost free of selective pressure.
Accelerating Research
Robert Robinson Avenue,
Oxford Science Park, Oxford
OX4 4GP, United Kingdom
Address
John Eccles HouseRobert Robinson Avenue,
Oxford Science Park, Oxford
OX4 4GP, United Kingdom