Chromosome architecture constrains horizontal gene transfer in bacteria.

ABSTRACT: Despite significant frequencies of lateral gene transfer between species, higher taxonomic groups of bacteria show ecological and phenotypic cohesion. This suggests that barriers prevent panmictic dissemination of genes via lateral gene transfer. We have proposed that most bacterial genomes have a functional architecture imposed by Architecture IMparting Sequences (AIMS). AIMS are defined as 8 base pair sequences preferentially abundant on leading strands, whose abundance and strand-bias are positively correlated with proximity to the replication terminus. We determined that inversions whose endpoints lie within a single chromosome arm, which would reverse the polarity of AIMS in the inverted region, are both shorter and less frequent near the replication terminus. This distribution is con

SUBMITTER: Hendrickson HL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5993296 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature