Mineta Katsuhiko, Matsumoto Tomotaka, Osada Naoki, Araki Hitoshi
Computational Bioscience Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, 4700 KAUST, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia; Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University, N14W9 Kita, Sapporo 060-0814, Japan.
Graduate School of Systems Life Sciences, Kyushu University, 6-10-1 Hakozaki, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan; Department of Population Genetics, National Institute of Genetics, 1111 Yata, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan.
Gene. 2015 May 10;562(1):16-21. doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2015.03.011. Epub 2015 Mar 6.
The role of stochasticity in evolutionary genetics has long been debated. To date, however, the potential roles of non-genetic traits in evolutionary processes have been largely neglected. In molecular biology, growing evidence suggests that stochasticity in gene expression (SGE) is common and that SGE has major impacts on phenotypes and fitness. Here, we provide a general overview of the potential effects of SGE on population genetic parameters, arguing that SGE can indeed have a profound effect on evolutionary processes. Our analyses suggest that SGE potentially alters the fate of mutations by influencing effective population size and fixation probability. In addition, a genetic control of SGE magnitude could evolve under certain conditions, if the fitness of the less-fit individual increases due to SGE and environmental fluctuation. Although empirical evidence for our arguments is yet to come, methodological developments for precisely measuring SGE in living organisms will further advance our understanding of SGE-driven evolution.
随机性在进化遗传学中的作用长期以来一直存在争议。然而，迄今为止，非遗传性状在进化过程中的潜在作用在很大程度上被忽视了。在分子生物学中，越来越多的证据表明基因表达的随机性（SGE）很常见，并且SGE对表型和适应性有重大影响。在这里，我们概述了SGE对群体遗传参数的潜在影响，认为SGE确实可以对进化过程产生深远影响。我们的分析表明，SGE可能通过影响有效种群大小和固定概率来改变突变的命运。此外，如果不太适应的个体由于SGE和环境波动而适应性增加，那么在某些条件下，SGE大小的遗传控制可能会进化。尽管我们的论点还缺乏实证证据，但精确测量生物体中SGE的方法学发展将进一步推进我们对SGE驱动进化的理解。
