Positive Selection in Zinc Finger Protein Reveals Genetic Signatures of Adaptive Evolution in Undifferentiated Stem Cells during Evolution in Mammals

Figure 3

Zinc finger protein 3D structure, domain alignment, and positively chosen locations. The ZNFC2H2 domain structure of a zinc finger protein. Positive selection analysis of the ZFP42 gene using the Selecton server. A plot of the ratio along the length of the ZFP42 protein sequence. The red line indicates the threshold for positive selection (). The Bayes empirical Bayes (BEB) analysis of the ZFP42 protein sequence identified four amino acid sites (positions 47, 156, 207, and 258) with a high probability of being under positive selection (posterior ). The amino acid substitutions at these sites are shown in red. Structural representation of the ZFP42 protein showing the location of the positively selected amino acid sites (red spheres) in the context of the protein structure. The protein is shown in cartoon representation, with the selected amino acids highlighted in space-filling representation. Overall, these results suggest that the ZFP42 gene has undergone positive selection, with specific amino acid sites playing a key role in the adaptive evolution of the protein.