Any biologists here? How would you go about checking to see if a gene is under selection WITHOUT using genetics...

Any biologists here? How would you go about checking to see if a gene is under selection WITHOUT using genetics? I'm guessing I'd have to use some molecular?

What gene, and what do you mean by not using genetics?

If you know the protein associated with the gene you could try and measure the levels of that in a population I guess.

This is for a population genetics assignment. The professor wants us to "think outside the box". As in, use methods that don't involve pop gen.

What?

You could observe how tightly the chromatin has condensed around ur gene of interest, this limits gene expression

You could also add ubiquitilating enzymes and mark the mRNA transcribed by the gene for proteolytic destruction

But I suppose these count as genetics as well

It sounds like your looking for a gene that's being selected but you don't want to directly observe the genes, couldn't you just use proteins transcribed from a certain gene to do that?

>WITHOUT using genetics
>use some molecular
most of the time that's the same thing

>is under selection
>is
travel to the future and compare how common it is there as opposed to now

op, why are you asking

Is this a homework thread? If yes, plz report the OP.

> use some molecular

What could I do to a protein to see if's been changing over time?

you could use an antibody to detect it.

What the fuck. How would that tell me if it evolved over time? That would just tell me that it's being expressed.

Fuck off, captain autismo.

Look for changes in structure over time and expression rate. Sorry I'm very bad with words.

you could quantify binding, check for different epitopes if you have more than one antibody, or do co-ip tests. also changes in expr levels are clearly related with "evolving over time"

it would also tell you WHERE AND WHEN it is expressed and that is most important if it was varying. just sayan.

I guess extract the protein from different species and compare, but even then post transnational modifications will alter your results

Long-term phenotype analysis if it's observable with the naked eye.

Otherwise, just look for protein expression like said. Genes encode proteins, so logically increased expression of said protein implies selection for the gene that codes for it.

Well, dunno if this is what you want, but you could sequence the gene in various species and check for conserved sequences. Or check for a sequence that has changed throughout the phylogeny with a rate higher than the expected for genetic drift. That's not directly genetics, cause it's not based on seeing allele frequencies and such things.

This it's still to much genetics.

To really think outside the box you have to correlate gene expression with enviromental changes.

How does a particular gene changes the enviroment of the living specimen.

Virtually every method will be within the domain of genetics.

By definition this question is a "genetic" one.

hardy-weinbrug equilibrium?

The question is trivial, all genes are constantly under some form of selection pressure.

That's literally just observing a population then if you're not allowed to even look at proteins.

Ensure the promoter doesn't have many cytosines or guanines