The mitochondrial genome sequence of the ciliate Paramecium caudatum reveals a shift in nucleotide composition and codon usage within the genus Paramecium.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Despite the fact that the organization of the ciliate mitochondrial genome is exceptional, only few ciliate mitochondrial genomes have been sequenced until today. All ciliate mitochondrial genomes are linear. They are 40 kb to 47 kb long and contain some 50 tightly packed genes without introns. Earlier studies documented that the mitochondrial guanine + cytosine contents are very different between Paramecium tetraurelia and all studied Tetrahymena species. This raises the question of whether the high mitochondrial G+C content observed in P. tetraurelia is a characteristic property of Paramecium mtDNA, or whether it is an exception of the ciliate mitochondrial genomes known so far. To test this question, we determined the mitochondrial genome sequence of Paramecium caudat

SUBMITTER: Barth D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3118789 | biostudies-literature | 2011 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature