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Pathway Length and Evolutionary Constraint in Amino Acid Biosynthesis

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Abstract

The evolutionary properties of a metabolic network may be determined by the topology of the network. One attribute of pathways that make up the network is the number of enzymatic steps between initial substrates and final products. To determine the effect of pathway length on evolutionary lability of pathway structure, we examined amino acid biosynthetic pathways across 48 sequenced organisms. We demonstrate that longer pathways exhibit lower rates of change in pathway structure than shorter pathways. This finding suggests that increasing complexity may increase constraint on evolutionary change.

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Acknowledgements

We thank T. Oakley for invaluable advice and discussion and C. Fenster, A. Gibson, M, Hahn, D. McShea, C. Murren, M. Rausher, and the Duke University Population Biology group for technical assistance, helpful discussion, and comments on the manuscript.

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  1. Biology Department, Duke University, Durham, NC 27707, USA

    Matthew T. Rutter & Rebecca A. Zufall

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  1. Matthew T. Rutter
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  2. Rebecca A. Zufall
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Correspondence to Matthew T. Rutter.

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Rutter, M.T., Zufall, R.A. Pathway Length and Evolutionary Constraint in Amino Acid Biosynthesis . J Mol Evol 58, 218–224 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-003-2546-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-003-2546-y

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