Identification of DNA motifs implicated in maintenance of bacterial core genomes by predictive modeling.

ABSTRACT: Bacterial biodiversity at the species level, in terms of gene acquisition or loss, is so immense that it raises the question of how essential chromosomal regions are spared from uncontrolled rearrangements. Protection of the genome likely depends on specific DNA motifs that impose limits on the regions that undergo recombination. Although most such motifs remain unidentified, they are theoretically predictable based on their genomic distribution properties. We examined the distribution of the "crossover hotspot instigator," or Chi, in Escherichia coli, and found that its exceptional distribution is restricted to the core genome common to three strains. We then formulated a set of criteria that were incorporated in a statistical model to search core genomes for motifs potentially involved i

SUBMITTER: Halpern D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1976330 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature