Nucleotide diversity of the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii plastid genome: addressing the mutational-hazard hypothesis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The mutational-hazard hypothesis argues that the noncoding-DNA content of a genome is a consequence of the mutation rate (mu) and the effective number of genes per locus in the population (N(g)). The hypothesis predicts that genomes with a high N(g)mu will be more compact than those with a small N(g)mu. Approximations of N(g)mu can be gained by measuring the nucleotide diversity at silent sites (pi(silent)). We addressed the mutation-hazard hypothesis apropos plastid-genome evolution by measuring pi(silent) of the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii plastid DNA (ptDNA), the most noncoding-DNA-dense plastid genome observed to date. The data presented here in conjunction with previously published values of pi(silent) for the C. reinhardtii mitochondrial and nuclear genomes, which ar

SUBMITTER: Smith DR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2698885 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature