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The decline of isochores in mammals: an assessment of the GC content variation along the mammalian phylogeny.

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 05:32 authored by Elise M S Belle, Laurent Duret, Nicolas Galtier, Adam Eyre-WalkerAdam Eyre-Walker
Whether isochores, the large-scale variation of the GC content in mammalian genomes, are being maintained has recently been questioned. It has been suggested that GC-rich isochores originated in the ancestral amniote genome but that whatever force gave rise to them is no longer effective and that isochores are now disappearing from mammalian genomes. Here we investigated the evolution of the GC content of 41 coding genes in 6 to 66 species of mammals by estimating the ancestral GC content using a method which allows for different rates of substitution between sites. We found a highly significant decrease in the GC content during early mammalian evolution, as well as a weaker but still significant decrease in the GC content of GC-rich genes later in at least three groups of mammals: primates, rodents, and carnivores. These results are of interest because they confirm the recently suggested disappearance of GC-rich isochores in some mammalian genomes, and more importantly, they suggest that this disappearance started very early in mammalian evolution.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Journal of Molecular Evolution

ISSN

0022-2844

Issue

6

Volume

58

Page range

653-660

Pages

8.0

Department affiliated with

  • Evolution, Behaviour and Environment Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

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