Comparative genomics of gene-family size in closely related bacteria.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The wealth of genomic data in bacteria is helping microbiologists understand the factors involved in gene innovation. Among these, the expansion and reduction of gene families appears to have a fundamental role in this, but the factors influencing gene family size are unclear.

Results

The relative content of paralogous genes in bacterial genomes increases with genome size, largely due to the expansion of gene family size in large genomes. Bacteria undergoing genome reduction display a parallel process of redundancy elimination, by which gene families are reduced to one or a few members. Gene family size is also influenced by sequence divergence and physiological function. Large gene families show wider sequence divergence, suggesting they are probably older, and c

SUBMITTER: Pushker R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC395786 | biostudies-literature | 2004

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature