Stochasticity in protein levels drives colinearity of gene order in metabolic operons of Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT: In bacterial genomes, gene order is not random. This is most evident when looking at operons, these often encoding enzymes involved in the same metabolic pathway or proteins from the same complex. Is gene order within operons nonrandom, however, and if so why? We examine this issue using metabolic operons as a case study. Using the metabolic network of Escherichia coli, we define the temporal order of reactions. We find a pronounced trend for genes to appear in operons in the same order as they are needed in metabolism (colinearity). This is paradoxical as, at steady state, enzymes abundance should be independent of order within the operon. We consider three extensions of the steady-state model that could potentially account for colinearity: (1) increased productivity associated with highe

SUBMITTER: Kovacs K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2684527 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature