Jukes T H
Naturwissenschaften. 1980 Nov;67(11):534-9. doi: 10.1007/BF00450662.
Silent nucleotide substitutions in evolution are found by comparing homologous sequences of DNA from different organisms. Silent changes are common in the third bases of codons, so that no changes takes place in the specified amino acid. Silent changes average about half of the total nucleotide substitutions during evolution of protein-coding regions of genes. Nucleotide substitutions also take place during evolution in non-coding regions of DNA, such as in intervening sequences and in sequences that precede and follow codon regions in genes. Deletions and additions from events of recombination, in addition to nucleotide substitutions, are common in these non-coding regions.
通过比较不同生物体DNA的同源序列，可发现进化过程中的沉默核苷酸替换。沉默变化在密码子的第三个碱基中很常见，因此指定的氨基酸不会发生变化。在基因的蛋白质编码区域进化过程中，沉默变化平均约占总核苷酸替换的一半。核苷酸替换在DNA的非编码区域进化过程中也会发生，例如在间隔序列以及基因中密码子区域前后的序列中。除了核苷酸替换外，重组事件导致的缺失和插入在这些非编码区域也很常见。
