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Researchers identify viruses as dominant drivers of human evolution
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Viruses have played a substantial role in the history of human evolution, according to a study recently published in eLife.
“When you have a pandemic or an epidemic at some point in evolution, the population that is targeted by the virus either adapts, or goes extinct. We knew that, but what really surprised us is the strength and clarity of the pattern we found,” David Enard, PhD, in the department of biology at Stanford University, said in a press release. “This is the first time that viruses have been shown to have such a strong impact on adaptation.”
Researchers studied adaptations in 1,256 virus-interacting proteins in humans, comparing the proteins with the genomes of 23 other animals, including chimpanzees, orangutans, cats, dogs, pigs and elephants. Ultimately, Enard and colleagues concluded that viruses have driven roughly 30% of all adaptive amino acid changes in the human proteome. Previously, the press release noted, research on the subject had been limited to proteins “directly involved in the immune response.”
They also noted that their estimate was a conservative one.
“Although we find a strong signal of increased adaptation, the amount of adaptive evolution that can be attributed to viruses is probably underestimated by our analysis,” Enard and colleagues wrote. The researchers noted that virus-interacting proteins are still being discovered at a steady rate, and adaptation is not necessarily limited to proteins that physically interact with viruses.
“Our analysis suggests that viruses have exerted a very powerful selective pressure across the breadth of the mammalian proteome,” the investigators wrote, “and suggests the possibility that pathogens in general are the key driver of protein adaptation in mammals and likely other lineages and might have driven many pleiotropic effects on diverse biological functions.” – by Andy Polhamus
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