Evolutionary forces affecting synonymous variations in plant genomes

Evolutionary forces affecting synonymous variations in plant genomes

Base composition is highly variable among and within plant genomes, especially at third codon positions, ranging from GC-poor and homogeneous species to GC-rich and highly heterogeneous ones (particularly Monocots). Consequently, synonymous codon usage is biased in most species, even when base composition is relatively homogeneous. The causes of these variations are still under debate, with thr...

Structural variations in plant genomes

Differences between plant genomes range from single nucleotide polymorphisms to large-scale duplications, deletions and rearrangements. The large polymorphisms are termed structural variants (SVs). SVs have received significant attention in human genetics and were found to be responsible for various chronic diseases. However, little effort has been directed towards understanding the role of SVs...

Correlated rates of synonymous site evolution across plant genomes.

Synonymous substitution rates have been shown to vary among evolutionary lineages of both nuclear and organellar genes across a broad range of taxonomic groups. In animals, rate heterogeneity does not appear to be correlated across nuclear and mitochondrial genes. In this paper, we contrast substitution rates in two plant groups and show that grasses evolve more rapidly than palms at synonymous...

Identifying synonymous regulatory elements in vertebrate genomes

Synonymous gene regulation, defined by regulatory elements driving shared temporal and/or spatial aspects of gene expression, is most probably predicated on genomic elements that contain similar modules of certain transcription factor binding sites (TFBS). We have developed a method to scan vertebrate genomes for evolutionary conserved modules of TFBS in a predefined configuration, and created ...

Synonymous and Nonsynonymous Polymorphism vs. Divergence in Bacterial Genomes