An experimental assay of the interactions of amino acids from orthologous sequences shaping a complex fitness landscape

Victoria O. Pokusaeva, Dinara R. Usmanova, Ekaterina V. Putintseva, Lorena Espinar, Karen S. Sarkisyan, Alexander S. Mishin, Natalya S. Bogatyreva, Dmitry N. Ivankov, Arseniy V. Akopyan, Sergey Ya Avvakumov, Inna S. Povolotskaya, Guillaume J. Filion, Lucas B. Carey, Fyodor A. Kondrashov

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

58 Scopus citations

Abstract

Characterizing the fitness landscape, a representation of fitness for a large set of genotypes, is key to understanding how genetic information is interpreted to create functional organisms. Here we determined the evolutionarily-relevant segment of the fitness landscape of His3, a gene coding for an enzyme in the histidine synthesis pathway, focusing on combinations of amino acid states found at orthologous sites of extant species. Just 15% of amino acids found in yeast His3 orthologues were always neutral while the impact on fitness of the remaining 85% depended on the genetic background. Furthermore, at 67% of sites, amino acid replacements were under sign epistasis, having both strongly positive and negative effect in different genetic backgrounds. 46% of sites were under reciprocal sign epistasis. The fitness impact of amino acid replacements was influenced by only a few genetic backgrounds but involved interaction of multiple sites, shaping a rugged fitness landscape in which many of the shortest paths between highly fit genotypes are inaccessible.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere1008079
JournalPLoS Genetics
Volume15
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2019
Externally publishedYes

Funding

FundersFunder number
EuropeanUnion’sSeventhFrameworkProgramme
European Commission
Seventh Framework Programme335980, ALTF107-2016, 609989
Howard Hughes Medical Institute55007424
Ministerio de Economía y CompetitividadBFU2012-31329, BFU2012-37168
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme665385
European Research CouncilFP7/2007-2013

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