Summary
Proteins that are low-abundance evolve faster (1). This is true at both the sequence and structural level (2). Exceptions include “suicide enzymes” such as those involved in thiamine synthesis.
Figures
Ref (2)
1.
Pál C, Papp B, Hurst LD. Highly Expressed Genes in Yeast Evolve Slowly. Genetics. 2001;158(2):927–31. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1093/genetics/158.2.927
2.
Lemke O, Heineike BM, Viknander S, Cohen N, Li F, Steenwyk JL, et al. The role of metabolism in shaping enzyme structures over 400 million years. Nature. 2025;644(8075):280–9. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09205-6