Genome Evolution: Mutation Is the Main Driver of Genome Size in Prokaryotes

Gabriel A B Marais; Bérénice Batut; Vincent Daubin

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2020.07.093

Genome Evolution: Mutation Is the Main Driver of Genome Size in Prokaryotes

Curr Biol. 2020 Oct 5;30(19):R1083-R1085. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.07.093.

Authors

Gabriel A B Marais¹, Bérénice Batut², Vincent Daubin³

Affiliations

¹ Université Lyon 1, CNRS, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive UMR 5558, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France. Electronic address: Gabriel.Marais@univ-lyon1.fr.
² Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Department of Computer Science, 79110 Freiburg, Germany.
³ Université Lyon 1, CNRS, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive UMR 5558, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France.

PMID: 33022240
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.07.093

Abstract

Despite intense research on genome architecture since the 2000s, genome-size evolution in prokaryotes has remained puzzling. Using a phylogenetic approach, a new study found that increased mutation rate is associated with gene loss and reduced genome size in prokaryotes.

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MeSH terms

Evolution, Molecular
Genome Size
Genome, Bacterial*
Mutation
Mutation Rate*
Phylogeny