Balancing selection and the evolution of functional polymorphism in Old World monkey TRIM5alpha.

ABSTRACT: Retroviral restriction factor TRIM5alpha exhibits a high degree of sequence variation among primate species. It has been proposed that this diversity is the cumulative result of ancient, lineage-specific episodes of positive selection. Here, we describe the contribution of within-species variation to the evolution of TRIM5alpha. Sampling within two geographically distinct Old World monkey species revealed extensive polymorphism, including individual polymorphisms that predate speciation (shared polymorphism). In some instances, alleles were more closely related to orthologues of other species than to one another. Both silent and nonsynonymous changes clustered in two domains. Functional assays revealed consequences of polymorphism, including differential restriction of a small panel of ret

SUBMITTER: Newman RM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1679755 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature