Minor shift in background substitutional patterns in the Drosophila saltans and willistoni lineages is insufficient to explain GC content of coding sequences.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Several lines of evidence suggest that codon usage in the Drosophila saltans and D. willistoni lineages has shifted towards a less frequent use of GC-ending codons. Introns in these lineages show a parallel shift toward a lower GC content. These patterns have been alternatively ascribed to either a shift in mutational patterns or changes in the definition of preferred and unpreferred codons in these lineages.

Results and discussion

To gain additional insight into this question, we quantified background substitutional patterns in the saltans/willistoni group using inactive copies of a novel, Q-like retrotransposable element. We demonstrate that the pattern of background substitutions in the saltans/willistoni lineage has shifted to a significant degree, primarily d

SUBMITTER: Singh ND 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1626080 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature