Uncovering rate variation of lateral gene transfer during bacterial genome evolution.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Large scale genome arrangement, such as whole gene insertion/deletion, plays an important role in bacterial genome evolution. Various methods have been employed to study the dynamic process of gene insertions and deletions, such as parsimony methods and maximum likelihood methods. Previous maximum likelihood studies have assumed that the rate of gene insertions/deletions is constant over different genes. This assumption is unrealistic. For instance, it has been shown that informational genes are less likely to be laterally transferred than non-informational genes. However, how much of the variation in gene transfer rates is due to the difference between informational genes and non-informational genes is unclear. In this study, a Gamma-distribution was incorporated in the

SUBMITTER: Hao W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2426709 | biostudies-literature | 2008 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature