The Japanese Journal of Genetics
Online ISSN : 1880-5787
Print ISSN : 0021-504X
ISSN-L : 0021-504X
SPECIAL FEATURE
Papers Dedicated to Professor Motoo KIMURA on the Occasion of his 70th Birthday
Evolution of pathogenic viruses with special reference to the rates of synonymous and nonsynonymous substitutions
Takashi GOJOBORIYumi YAMAGUCHIKazuho IKEOMasashi MIZOKAMI
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1994 Volume 69 Issue 5 Pages 481-488

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Abstract

For pathogenic viruses such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), human influenza A virus, and human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I), the evolutionary features were briefly reviewed with special reference to the rates of synonymous and nonsynonymous substitutions. In particular, these rates were discussed in connection with the neutral theory of molecular evolution. It was common to all the five pathogenic viruses that the rate of synonymous substitution was higher than that of, nonsynonymous substitution particularly when the entire gene regions were compared between different isolates. This suggests that the viral proteins are quite conservative to functional and structural changes even though most of theses viral genomes are evolving at a speed extraordinarily higher than their host genomes. Thus, this feature is consistent with the neutral theory. However, it is also pointed out that positive selection may be operating on some specific sites such as antigenic sites in order for the pathogenic viruses to escape from the host immune system.

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© 1994 by The Genetics Society of Japan
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