In silico genetic robustness analysis of microRNA secondary structures: potential evidence of congruent evolution in microRNA

Wenjie Shu,Zhiqiang Zheng,Xiaochen Bo,Ming Ni,Shengqi Wang

doi:10.1186/1471-2148-7-223

Wenjie Shu, Zhiqiang Zheng + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-7-223

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Abstract

BackgroundRobustness is a fundamental property of biological systems and is defined as the ability to maintain stable functioning in the face of various perturbations. Understanding how robustness has evolved has become one of the most attractive areas of research for evolutionary biologists, as it is still unclear whether genetic robustness evolved as a direct consequence of natural selection, as an intrinsic property of adaptations, or as congruent correlate of environment robustness. Recent studies have demonstrated that the stem-loop structures of microRNA (miRNA) are tolerant to some structural changes and show thermodynamic stability. We therefore hypothesize that genetic robustness may evolve as a correlated side effect of the evolution for environmental robustness.ResultsWe examine the robustness of 1,082 miRNA genes covering six species. Our data suggest the stem-loop structures of miRNA precursors exhibit a significantly higher level of genetic robustness, which goes beyond the intrinsic robustness of the stem-loop structure and is not a byproduct of the base composition bias. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the phenotype of miRNA buffers against genetic perturbations, and at the same time is also insensitive to environmental perturbations.ConclusionThe results suggest that the increased robustness of miRNA stem-loops may result from congruent evolution for environment robustness. Potential applications of our findings are also discussed.

Highlights

Robustness is a fundamental property of biological systems and is defined as the ability to maintain stable functioning in the face of various perturbations
Our results demonstrate that the stem-loop structures of miRNAs buffer against genetic variations, at the same time is insensitive to environmental perturbations, indicating that the increase in genetic robustness may evolve as a correlated side effect of the evolution for environmental robustness
The current study investigate the evolutionary origin of genetic robustness – a fundamental evolutionary molecular biology problem which has not been fully elucidated

Summary

Introduction

Robustness is a fundamental property of biological systems and is defined as the ability to maintain stable functioning in the face of various perturbations. Understanding how robustness has evolved has become one of the most attractive areas of research for evolutionary biologists, as it is still unclear whether genetic robustness evolved as a direct consequence of natural selection, as an intrinsic property of adaptations, or as congruent correlate of environment robustness. We hypothesize that genetic robustness may evolve as a correlated side effect of the evolution for environmental robustness. Robustness, a fundamental and ubiquitously observed phenomenon in biological systems, is defined as the ability to maintain stable functioning in the face of various perturbations, and is characterized as genetic or environmental robustness, depending on whether the perturbations are inheritable or not [1]. A proper understanding of the origin of robustness in biological systems will catalyze our understanding of evolution [9]

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