Several aspects of the proposal, which aims to expand open access, require serious discussion and, in some cases, a rethink.
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In our article (1) we used “negative selection” to succinctly convey that a previously functional allele became deleterious and therefore was removed by natural selection. However, Zhang (2) is correct that our usage was contrary to the usual meaning. Olson's term, “adaptive gene loss” (3), would have been more appropriate. We are gratified that Zhang agrees with our conclusion that the pseudogenization of rcsA was adaptive.
Footnotes
- ‡To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: creg.darby{at}ucsf.edu
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Author contributions: Y.-C.S., B.J.H, and C.D. wrote the paper.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
- © 2008 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA
Reply to Zhang: Adaptive gene loss in Yersinia pestis rcsA pseudogenization
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