The genome sequences of multiple species has enabled functional inferences from comparative genomics. A primary objective is to infer biological functions from the conservation of homologous DNA sequences between species. A second, more difficult, objective is to understand what functional DNA sequences have changed over time and are responsible for species' phenotypic differences. The neutral theory of molecular evolution provides a theoretical framework in which both objectives can be explicitly tested. Development of statistical tests within this framework has provided insight into the evolutionary forces that constrain and in some cases change DNA sequences and the resulting patterns that emerge. In this article, we review recent work on how functional constraint and changes in protein function are inferred from protein polymorphism and divergence data. We relate these studies to our understanding of the neutral theory and adaptive evolution.

中文翻译：

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序列差异，功能限制和蛋白质进化中的选择。

多个物种的基因组序列已使根据比较基因组学进行功能推断成为可能。一个主要目的是从物种之间的同源DNA序列的保守性推断出生物学功能。第二个更困难的目标是了解哪些功能性DNA序列随时间变化并导致物种的表型差异。分子进化的中性理论提供了可以明确检验两个目标的理论框架。在此框架内统计测试的发展提供了对限制并在某些情况下改变DNA序列以及由此产生的模式的进化力的见解。在这篇文章中，我们回顾了有关如何从蛋白质多态性和差异数据推断功能限制和蛋白质功能变化的最新研究。我们将这些研究与对中性理论和适应性进化的理解联系起来。