Genomic Legacies of Ancient Adaptation Illuminate GC-Content Evolution in Bacteria.

ABSTRACT: Bacterial evolution is characterized by strong purifying selection as well as rapid adaptive evolution in changing environments. In this context, the genomic GC content (genomic GC) varies greatly but presents some level of phylogenetic stability, making it challenging to explain based on current hypotheses. To illuminate the evolutionary mechanisms of the genomic GC, we analyzed the base composition and functional inventory of 11,083 representative genomes. A phylogenetically constrained bimodal distribution of the genomic GC, which mainly originated from parallel divergences in the early evolution, was demonstrated. Such variation of the genomic GC can be well explained by DNA replication and repair (DRR), in which multiple pathways correlate with the genomic GC. Furthermore, the biased

SUBMITTER: Teng W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9927291 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature