engleski

Replication-related constraints on the evolution of archaeal genome structure

Prokaryotic genomes are generally organized in a way that enables fast DNA replication and cell division. This genome organization includes features such as positioning highly expressed genes close to the origin of replication and placing essential genes on the leading strand. To what extent these organizational principles constrain short- and long-term evolution of genome structure in archaea, however, remains largely unexplored. Here, we characterize the distribution of inversions and synteny breakpoints in various archaeal clades. We observe widespread nonrandom breakpoint and inversion patterns in both euryarchaea and crenarchaea, with a tendency towards inversions that are symmetric around the origin of replication. Our findings are consistent with ongoing selection for the conservation of local gene neighbourhoods around the origin of replication, and for maintenance of distance relationships around the origin of replication. Notably, we find similar patterns in genomes with single and multiple origins of replication such as Sulfolobus, where principles of genome organization and evolution apply to individual origin territories.

genome structure evolution; inversions; selection; prokaryotes

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