Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33004824›Full record

ArticleNature communications2020

Biophysical ambiguities prevent accurate genetic prediction.

Xianghua Li, Ben Lehner

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
22citing papers in PubMed
4.3field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

22 citing papers in PubMed, 49 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Evolutionary pathways in epistatic mechanical networks.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
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  8. MuToN Quantifies Binding Affinity Changes upon Protein Mutations by Geometric Deep Learning.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2024
    Article
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  14. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Xianghua LiCentre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Dr. Aiguader 88, Barcelona, 08003, Spain.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2172-7271
Ben LehnerCentre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Dr. Aiguader 88, Barcelona, 08003, Spain. ben.lehner@crg.eu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8817-1124
Centre for Genomic Regulation · ESInstitució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats · ES

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

A goal of biology is to predict how mutations combine to alter phenotypes, fitness and disease. It is often assumed that mutations combine additively or with interactions that can be predicted. Here, we show using simulations that, even for the simple example of the lambda phage transcription factor CI repressing a gene, this assumption is incorrect and that perfect measurements of the effects of mutations on a trait and mechanistic understanding can be insufficient to predict what happens when two mutations are combined. This apparent paradox arises because mutations can have different biophysical effects to cause the same change in a phenotype and the outcome in a double mutant depends upon what these hidden biophysical changes actually are. Pleiotropy and non-monotonic functions further confound prediction of how mutations interact. Accurate prediction of phenotypes and disease will sometimes not be possible unless these biophysical ambiguities can be resolved using additional measurements.

Indexed as

Models, GeneticThermodynamicsBacteriophage lambdaBiophysical PhenomenaGene Expression Regulation, ViralGenetic Association StudiesMutationPhenotypeRepressor ProteinsViral Regulatory and Accessory Proteinsphage repressor proteinsRepressor ProteinsViral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins

Identifiers

PMID33004824
PMCPMC7529754
OpenAlexW3091400119

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.