Thermodynamics of Neutral Protein Evolution

Thermodynamics of neutral protein evolution.

Naturally evolving proteins gradually accumulate mutations while continuing to fold to stable structures. This process of neutral evolution is an important mode of genetic change and forms the basis for the molecular clock. We present a mathematical theory that predicts the number of accumulated mutations, the index of dispersion, and the distribution of stabilities in an evolving protein popul...

Connectivity of neutral networks and structural conservation in protein evolution

Protein structures are much more conserved than sequences during evolution. Based on this observation, we investigate the consequences of structural conservation on protein evolution. We study seven of the most studied protein folds, finding out that an extended neutral network in sequence space is associated to each of them. Within our model, neutral evolution leads to a non-Poissonian substit...

Thermodynamics and Evolution

Biology and mathematics. Recent developments in the areas of biological research stimulate increased interest to oscillatory chemical processes. And increasing number of researchers seem to believe that the basis for the complex organizational structure of the processes that take place inside living organisms lie in oscillatory chemical reactions. As it is usually the case in growing areas of s...

Thermodynamics and evolution.

The science of thermodynamics is concerned with understanding the properties of inanimate matter in so far as they are determined by changes in temperature. The Second Law asserts that in irreversible processes there is a uni-directional increase in thermodynamic entropy, a measure of the degree of uncertainty in the thermal energy state of a randomly chosen particle in the aggregate. The scien...

Widespread neutral evolution on mammalian protein surfaces 2