Three-dimensional window analysis for detecting positive selection at structural regions of proteins.

Detection of natural selection operating at the amino acid sequence level is important in the study of molecular evolution. Single-site analysis and one-dimensional window analysis can be used to detect selection when the biological functions of amino acid sites are unknown. Single-site analysis is useful when selection operates more or less constantly over evolutionary time, but less so when selection operates temporarily. One-dimensional window analysis is more sensitive than single-site analysis when the functions of amino acid sites in close proximity in the linear sequence are similar, although this is not always the case. Here I present a three-dimensional window analysis method for detecting selection given the three-dimensional structure of the protein of interest. In the three-dimensional structure, the window is defined as the sphere centered on the alpha-carbon of an amino acid site. The window size is the radius of the sphere. The sites whose alpha-carbons are included in the window are grouped for the neutrality test. The window is moved within the three-dimensional structure by sequentially moving the central site along the primary amino acid sequence. To detect positive selection, it may also be useful to group the surface-exposed sites in the window separately. Three-dimensional window analysis appears not only to be more sensitive than single-site analysis and one-dimensional window analysis but also to provide similar specificity for inferring positive selection in the analyses of the hemagglutinin and neuraminidase genes of human influenza A viruses. This method, however, may fail to detect selection when it operates only on a particular site, in which case single-site analysis may be preferred, although a large number of sequences is required.