The Effect of Protein Length on the Ploidy Level and Environmental Tolerance of Organisms

This paper summarizes previous work linking protein aggregation to the heterozygosity of organisms. It also cites the literature showing a correlation between species' morphological complexity and the lengths of their proteins. These two findings are combined to form a theory that may potentially explain the ploidy levels of organisms. Organisms can employ heterozygosity to inhibit protein aggregation. Hence, complex organisms tend to be diploid because they tend to synthesize long, aggregation-prone proteins. On the other hand, simple organisms tend to be haploid because they synthesize short proteins that are less prone to aggregation. The theory may also explain ecological trends associated with organisms of different ploidy level. Two mathematical models are also developed that may explain: 1) how protein aggregation results in truncation selection that maintains numerous polymorphisms in natural populations, and 2) the relationship between protein turnover, metabolic efficiency, and heterosis. 1 Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, 3111 Miller Plant Sciences Building, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602 2 Email: [email protected] 1