As expected, the latter were mostly submitted to synonymous mutations.
Synonymous mutations are mostly in the third nucleotide position of each codon, while substitution of either of the other two nucleotides generally causes non-synonymous changes.
(i) Synonymous mutations are expected to be mostly effectively neutral (or only under weak selection) and therefore their rate of fixation can be predicted from the neutral theory [ 109] (the rate is slightly lower if there is very weak selection).
Researchers have assumed that "synonymous" mutations don't matter.
The fitness effects of these synonymous mutations thus resemble those of any other non-synonymous mutation that has been selected.
Our results demonstrate unequivocally that synonymous mutations can increase fitness by amounts similar to that of non-synonymous mutations, and can play an important role in adaptive evolution.
Sequencing of the representative samples revealed one synonymous and one novel non synonymous mutations (g.705G > A and g.715C > T).
Supek F, Minana B, Valcarcel J et al. Synonymous mutations frequently act as driver mutations in human cancers.
Synonymous mutations can affect the stability of mRNA secondary structure through altered base pair interactions.
Our results suggest that synonymous mutations may play an underappreciated role in adaptive evolution.
