Over the last years, the accumulation of interactomic data has allowed us to cast a first glance at the impact of genes' position in the network on their patterns of molecular evolution (reviewed in refs. [ 11- 13]).
Decades after the idea of a molecular clock was first broached[ 1], the weight of evidence suggests that rate heterogeneity, not rate constancy, is the norm in molecular evolution (reviewed in [ 2, 3]) and that an exact molecular clock will not be found.
J.H. Gillespie, "Rates of Molecular Evolution," Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 17 (1986): 637-665.
T. Ohta, "The nearly neutral theory of molecular evolution," Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 23 (1992): 263-286.
In response to these criticisms, molecular dating methods have now been developed that allow for variation in rate of molecular evolution (for reviews see [ 22, 23]).
To play ACAGATATA, students should be aware of basic concepts of genetics and molecular evolution -for a review, see textbooks by Lehninger et al. (2008) and Lewin (2007).
As the sister lineages had the same amount of time to accumulate species and substitutions, we assumed that the branch length is proportional to the rate of molecular evolution of chloroplasts (reviewed in [ 34]).
Theoretical models predict that both the rate of fitness increase and the rate of molecular evolution will be constant (reviewed in Sniegowski & Gerrish [ 2]).
To address the need for receptor-selective ligands, we decided to review the molecular evolution of the OT/AVP ligand receptor system to gain insight into the mechanism of receptor ligand recognition and binding.
Journal of Molecular Evolution is currently soliciting mini-reviews of 2000-3000 words and 1-3 Figures.
