The Rate and Molecular Spectrum of Spontaneous Mutations in the GC-Rich Multichromosome Genome of Burkholderia cenocepacia.

ABSTRACT: Spontaneous mutations are ultimately essential for evolutionary change and are also the root cause of many diseases. However, until recently, both biological and technical barriers have prevented detailed analyses of mutation profiles, constraining our understanding of the mutation process to a few model organisms and leaving major gaps in our understanding of the role of genome content and structure on mutation. Here, we present a genome-wide view of the molecular mutation spectrum in Burkholderia cenocepacia, a clinically relevant pathogen with high %GC content and multiple chromosomes. We find that B. cenocepacia has low genome-wide mutation rates with insertion-deletion mutations biased toward deletions, consistent with the idea that deletion pressure reduces prokaryotic genome sizes.

SUBMITTER: Dillon MM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4512553 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature