Charting ever-changing genomes
From the Salk Institute Instead of immutable proprietary software, any species' genetic information resembles open source code that is constantly tweaked and optimized to meet the users' specific needs. But which parts of the code have withstood the test of time and which parts have undergone rapid evolutionary change has been difficult to assess. The study "reveals the regions that are currently targeted by natural selection or have been so during the evolutionary past." "As highlighted [in the] studies, many genes that harbor major-effect changes in wild populations are likely to mediate interactions with the environment," says Weigel. "Ultimately, experiments under more natural conditions will be required to fully appreciate the functional relevance of such sequence variation."