The Patterns and Causes of Variation in Plant Nucleotide Substitution Rates

Early studies of protein evolution established that evolutionary rates vary among sites, genes, and lineages. Here, we review rate variation within each of these three components, with an emphasis on plant nuclear genes. Evolutionary rates vary among nucleotide sites as a consequence of selection and mutational biases. Mutation varies among sites as a function of the base, its neighboring bases, and its proximity to insertion-deletion...