부산대학교 도서관

Synonymous mutations change the DNA sequence of a gene without affecting the amino acid sequence of the encoded protein. Although some synonymous mutations can affect RNA splicing, translational efficiency, and mRNA stability, studies in human genetics, mutagenesis screens, and other experiments and evolutionary analyses have repeatedly shown that most synonymous variants are neutral or only weakly deleterious, with some notable exceptions. Based on a recent study in yeast, there have been claims that synonymous mutations could be as important as nonsynonymous mutations in causing disease, assuming the yeast findings hold up and translate to humans. Here, we argue that there is insufficient evidence to overturn the large, coherent body of knowledge establishing the predominant neutrality of synonymous variants in the human genome. There have been recent claims that synonymous mutations may be nearly as important as other forms of protein-coding variation in causing human disease. In this commentary, we argue that there is insufficient evidence to overturn the large body of evidence that synonymous mutations are predominantly neutral. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]