Evidence for a high frequency of simultaneous double-nucleotide substitutions

Journal article

Averof, Rokas, Wolfe, Sharp
Science, vol. 287, 2000, pp. 1283-1286

Cite

APA Click to copy
Averof, Rokas, Wolfe, & Sharp. (2000). Evidence for a high frequency of simultaneous double-nucleotide substitutions. Science, 287, 1283–1286.

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Averof, Rokas, Wolfe, and Sharp. “Evidence for a High Frequency of Simultaneous Double-Nucleotide Substitutions.” Science 287 (2000): 1283–1286.

MLA Click to copy
Averof, et al. “Evidence for a High Frequency of Simultaneous Double-Nucleotide Substitutions.” Science, vol. 287, 2000, pp. 1283–86.

BibTeX Click to copy

@article{averof2000a,
  title = {Evidence for a high frequency of simultaneous double-nucleotide substitutions},
  year = {2000},
  journal = {Science},
  pages = {1283-1286},
  volume = {287},
  author = {Averof and Rokas and Wolfe and Sharp}
}

Abstract

Point mutations are generally assumed to involve changes of single nucleotides. Nevertheless, the nature and known mechanisms of mutation do not exclude the possibility that several adjacent nucleotides may change simultaneously in a single mutational event. Two independent approaches are used here to estimate the frequency of simultaneous double-nucleotide substitutions. The first examines switches between TCN and AGY (where N is any nucleotide and Y is a pyrimidine) codons encoding absolutely conserved serine residues in a number of proteins from diverse organisms. The second reveals double-nucleotide substitutions in primate noncoding sequences. These two complementary approaches provide similar high estimates for the rate of doublet substitutions, on the order of 0.1 per site per billion years.