Extended Data Fig. 10: A new model explaining the widespread negative correlation between the mRNA level of a gene and its evolutionary rate measured by the nonsynonymous or amino acid substitution rate.
From: Synonymous mutations in representative yeast genes are mostly strongly non-neutral
Compared with nonsynonymous mutations in lowly expressed genes, those in highly expressed genes tend to reduce the gene expression level and hence tend to be deleterious. As a result, the evolutionary rate of a gene measured by the nonsynonymous or amino acid substitution rate is negatively correlated with the gene expression level. The height of a symbol represents the quantity considered.