Median mutational variance in gene expression

Value 2E-05 (Substitution/generation)^2
Organism Fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster
Reference Landry CR, Lemos B, Rifkin SA, Dickinson WJ, Hartl DL. Genetic properties influencing the evolvability of gene expression. Science. 2007 Jul 6 317(5834):118-21PubMed ID17525304
Primary Source Rifkin SA, Houle D, Kim J, White KP. A mutation accumulation assay reveals a broad capacity for rapid evolution of gene expression. Nature. 2005 Nov 10 438(7065):220-3PubMed ID16281035
Method (Primary source): Researchers estimate the rate at which mutation produces new variation in gene expression by measuring transcript abundances across the genome during the onset of metamorphosis in 12 initially identical Drosophila melanogaster lines that independently accumulated mutations for 200 generations.
Comments The rate of phenotypic evolution due to mutation alone can be measured by the mutational variance (Vm), which is defined as the increase in the variance of a trait introduced by mutations each generation. It can be calculated from the variance of traits among MA (Mutation Accumulation) lines. For haploid asexual organisms, Vm = 2sb^2/t, where sb^2 is the between-line variance and t is the number of generations. See BNID 105090
Entered by Uri M
ID 105091