Hi,
My question is: when can you detect instances of positive darwinian selection
(PDS)?
I'll elaborate...A gene duplication occurs (or speciation) and the
conditions are conducive for positive selection (lets not get technical, the
reason for positive selection is unimportant). Amino acid-altering
mutations begin to occur at a faster rate than is expected (calculations based
on orthologous genes in other organisms, or some such measurement).
So at some stage, our gene of interest has fine-tuned its new function and now
is under the same kinds of selective constraints as most genes (Ks values are
perhaps 2-5 times more frequent than Ka values).
Will I always be able to detect this event? Can I only detect it while it is
happening? Will it become masked after a certain period of time?
Regards,
James
