Polyglutamine Length Co-Evolution in Neural Proteins

The study investigated the evolution and co-evolution of polyglutamine (polyQ) repeats in neural proteins among primates, focusing on their role in neurocognitive and neuropsychiatric domains. It found that polyQ repeats, which are length-dependent regulators of protein function, exhibited evolutionary hypervariability and were enriched in specific neural protein clusters. The research revealed extensive patterns of intermolecular polyQ length co-evolution in functionally related and interacting protein pairs and clusters. These findings suggested a system of co-evolving polyQ repeats with implications for understanding phenotypic variability, neurocognitive evolution, and the pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric diseases.