Stretches of alternating pyrimidine/purines and purines are respectively linked with pathogenicity and growth temperature in prokaryotes

BACKGROUND: The genomic fractions of purine (RR) and alternating pyrimidine/purine (YR) stretches of 10 base pairs or more, have been linked to genomic AT content, the formation of different DNA helices, strand-biased gene distribution, DNA structure, and more. Although some of these factors are a consequence of the chemical properties of purines and pyrimidines, a thorough statistical examination of the distributions of YR/RR stretches in sequenced prokaryotic chromosomes has to the best of our knowledge, not been undertaken. The aim of this study is to expand upon previous research by using regression analysis to investigate how AT content, habitat, growth temperature, pathogenicity, phyla, oxygen requirement and halotolerance correlated with the distribution of RR and YR stretches in prokaryotes. RESULTS: Our results indicate that RR and YR-stretches are differently distributed in prokaryotic phyla. RR stretches are overrepresented in all phyla except for the Actinobacteria and beta-Proteobacteria. In contrast, YR tracts are underrepresented in all phyla except for the beta-Proteobacterial group. YR-stretches are associated with phylum, pathogenicity and habitat, whilst RR-tracts are associated with phylum, AT content, oxygen requirement, growth temperature and halotolerance. All associations described were statistically significant with p <0.001. CONCLUSION: Analysis of chromosomal distributions of RR/YR sequences in prokaryotes reveals a set of associations with environmental factors not observed with mono- and oligonucleotide frequencies. This implies that important information can be found in the distribution of RR/YR stretches that is more difficult to obtain from genomic mono- and oligonucleotide frequencies. The association between pathogenicity and fractions of YR stretches is assumed to be linked to recombination and horizontal transfer

Identification of a mitotic recombination hotspot on chromosome III of the asexual fungus Aspergillus niger and its possible correlation elevated basal transcription

Genetic recombination is an important tool in strain breeding in many organisms. We studied the possibilities of mitotic recombination in strain breeding of the asexual fungus Aspergillus niger. By identifying genes that complemented mapped auxotrophic mutations, the physical map was compared to the genetic map of chromosome III using the genome sequence. In a program to construct a chromosome III-specific marker strain by selecting mitotic crossing-over in diploids, a mitotic recombination hotspot was identified. Analysis of the mitotic recombination hotspot revealed some physical features, elevated basal transcription and a possible correlation with purine stretches

Abundant Oligonucleotides Common to Most Bacteria

BACKGROUND: Bacteria show a bias in their genomic oligonucleotide composition far beyond that dictated by G+C content. Patterns of over- and underrepresented oligonucleotides carry a phylogenetic signal and are thus diagnostic for individual species. Patterns of short oligomers have been investigated by multiple groups in large numbers of bacteria genomes. However, global distributions of the most highly overrepresented mid-sized oligomers have not been assessed across all prokaryotes to date. We surveyed overrepresented mid-length oligomers across all prokaryotes and normalised for base composition and embedded oligomers using zero and second order Markov models. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we report a presumably ancient set of oligomers conserved and overrepresented in nearly all branches of prokaryotic life, including Archaea. These oligomers are either adenine rich homopurines with one to three guanine nucleosides, or homopyridimines with one to four cytosine nucleosides. They do not show a consistent preference for coding or non-coding regions or aggregate in any coding frame, implying a role in DNA structure and as polypeptide binding sites. Structural parameters indicate these oligonucleotides to be an extreme and rigid form of B-DNA prone to forming triple stranded helices under common physiological conditions. Moreover, the narrow minor grooves of these structures are recognised by DNA binding and nucleoid associated proteins such as HU. CONCLUSION: Homopurine and homopyrimidine oligomers exhibit distinct and unusual structural features and are present at high copy number in nearly all prokaryotic lineages. This fact suggests a non-neutral role of these oligonucleotides for bacterial genome organization that has been maintained throughout evolution

Current View on Phytoplasma Genomes and Encoded Metabolism

Phytoplasmas are specialised bacteria that are obligate parasites of plant phloem tissue and insects. These bacteria have resisted all attempts of cell-free cultivation. Genome research is of particular importance to analyse the genetic endowment of such bacteria. Here we review the gene content of the four completely sequenced ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma' genomes that include those of ‘Ca. P. asteris' strains OY-M and AY-WB, ‘Ca. P. australiense,' and ‘Ca. P. mali'. These genomes are characterized by chromosome condensation resulting in sizes below 900 kb and a G + C content of less than 28%. Evolutionary adaption of the phytoplasmas to nutrient-rich environments resulted in losses of genetic modules and increased host dependency highlighted by the transport systems and limited metabolic repertoire. On the other hand, duplication and integration events enlarged the chromosomes and contribute to genome instability. Present differences in the content of membrane and secreted proteins reflect the host adaptation in the phytoplasma strains. General differences are obvious between different phylogenetic subgroups. ‘Ca. P. mali' is separated from the other strains by its deviating chromosome organization, the genetic repertoire for recombination and excision repair of nucleotides or the loss of the complete energy-yielding part of the glycolysis. Apart from these differences, comparative analysis exemplified that all four phytoplasmas are likely to encode an alternative pathway to generate pyruvate and ATP

Analysis of the pattern and trend of human genomic variations in the form of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and small insertions and deletions (INDELs)

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and small insertions/deletions (INDELs) are the most common genetic variations in the human genome. They have been shown to associate with phenotype variation including genetic disease. Based on data in a recent version of the NCBI dbSNP database (Build 150), there are 305,651,992 SNPs and 19,177,943 INDELs, and together as all small sequence variants, they represent approximately 11% of the human reference genome sequences. In this study, we aimed first to examine the characteristics of SNPs and INDELs based on their location and variation type. We then identified the ancestral alleles for these variants and examined the patterns of variation from the ancestral state. Our results show that the occurrence of small variants averages at 104 SNPs/kb and 6.5 INDELs/kb for a total of ~11% of the genome. Chromosome 16 and 21 represent the least and most conserved autosomes, respectively, while the sex chromosomes are shown to have a much lower density of SNPs and INDELs being more than 30% lower in the X chromosome and more than 85% lower in the Y chromosome. By gene context, SNPs are biased towards genic regions and INDELs are biased towards intergenic regions, and further, INDELs are biased towards protein-coding genes and intron regions within the genic regions and SNPs are biased towards non-coding genes in the genic regions. Within the coding regions, SNPs and INDELs are biased towards missense and frameshift variations, respectively. Some of the biases were due to biased sources of the variation data targeting at genic regions, while the bias towards intron regions is due to selection pressure. Further, genes with the highest level of variation showed enrichment in functions related to environmental sensing and immune responses, while those with least variation associate with critical processes such as mRNA splicing and processing. Through a comparative genomics approach, we determined the ancestral state for most of these variants and our results indicate that ~0.79% of the genome has been subject to SNP and INDEL variation since the last common human ancestor. Our study represents the first comprehensive data analysis of human variation in SNPs and INDELs and the determination of their ancestral state, providing useful resources for human genetics study and new insights into human evolution

Mutational processes molding the genomes of 21 breast cancers.

All cancers carry somatic mutations. The patterns of mutation in cancer genomes reflect the DNA damage and repair processes to which cancer cells and their precursors have been exposed. To explore these mechanisms further, we generated catalogs of somatic mutation from 21 breast cancers and applied mathematical methods to extract mutational signatures of the underlying processes. Multiple distinct single- and double-nucleotide substitution signatures were discernible. Cancers with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations exhibited a characteristic combination of substitution mutation signatures and a distinctive profile of deletions. Complex relationships between somatic mutation prevalence and transcription were detected. A remarkable phenomenon of localized hypermutation, termed "kataegis," was observed. Regions of kataegis differed between cancers but usually colocalized with somatic rearrangements. Base substitutions in these regions were almost exclusively of cytosine at TpC dinucleotides. The mechanisms underlying most of these mutational signatures are unknown. However, a role for the APOBEC family of cytidine deaminases is proposed