Cargando…
Transposases are the most abundant, most ubiquitous genes in nature
Genes, like organisms, struggle for existence, and the most successful genes persist and widely disseminate in nature. The unbiased determination of the most successful genes requires access to sequence data from a wide range of phylogenetic taxa and ecosystems, which has finally become achievable t...
Autores principales: | , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Oxford University Press
2010
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2910039/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20215432 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkq140 |
_version_ | 1782184355990339584 |
---|---|
author | Aziz, Ramy K. Breitbart, Mya Edwards, Robert A. |
author_facet | Aziz, Ramy K. Breitbart, Mya Edwards, Robert A. |
author_sort | Aziz, Ramy K. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Genes, like organisms, struggle for existence, and the most successful genes persist and widely disseminate in nature. The unbiased determination of the most successful genes requires access to sequence data from a wide range of phylogenetic taxa and ecosystems, which has finally become achievable thanks to the deluge of genomic and metagenomic sequences. Here, we analyzed 10 million protein-encoding genes and gene tags in sequenced bacterial, archaeal, eukaryotic and viral genomes and metagenomes, and our analysis demonstrates that genes encoding transposases are the most prevalent genes in nature. The finding that these genes, classically considered as selfish genes, outnumber essential or housekeeping genes suggests that they offer selective advantage to the genomes and ecosystems they inhabit, a hypothesis in agreement with an emerging body of literature. Their mobile nature not only promotes dissemination of transposable elements within and between genomes but also leads to mutations and rearrangements that can accelerate biological diversification and—consequently—evolution. By securing their own replication and dissemination, transposases guarantee to thrive so long as nucleic acid-based life forms exist. |
format | Text |
id | pubmed-2910039 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2010 |
publisher | Oxford University Press |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-29100392010-07-27 Transposases are the most abundant, most ubiquitous genes in nature Aziz, Ramy K. Breitbart, Mya Edwards, Robert A. Nucleic Acids Res Survey and Summary Genes, like organisms, struggle for existence, and the most successful genes persist and widely disseminate in nature. The unbiased determination of the most successful genes requires access to sequence data from a wide range of phylogenetic taxa and ecosystems, which has finally become achievable thanks to the deluge of genomic and metagenomic sequences. Here, we analyzed 10 million protein-encoding genes and gene tags in sequenced bacterial, archaeal, eukaryotic and viral genomes and metagenomes, and our analysis demonstrates that genes encoding transposases are the most prevalent genes in nature. The finding that these genes, classically considered as selfish genes, outnumber essential or housekeeping genes suggests that they offer selective advantage to the genomes and ecosystems they inhabit, a hypothesis in agreement with an emerging body of literature. Their mobile nature not only promotes dissemination of transposable elements within and between genomes but also leads to mutations and rearrangements that can accelerate biological diversification and—consequently—evolution. By securing their own replication and dissemination, transposases guarantee to thrive so long as nucleic acid-based life forms exist. Oxford University Press 2010-07 2010-03-09 /pmc/articles/PMC2910039/ /pubmed/20215432 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkq140 Text en © The Author(s) 2010. Published by Oxford University Press. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Survey and Summary Aziz, Ramy K. Breitbart, Mya Edwards, Robert A. Transposases are the most abundant, most ubiquitous genes in nature |
title | Transposases are the most abundant, most ubiquitous genes in nature |
title_full | Transposases are the most abundant, most ubiquitous genes in nature |
title_fullStr | Transposases are the most abundant, most ubiquitous genes in nature |
title_full_unstemmed | Transposases are the most abundant, most ubiquitous genes in nature |
title_short | Transposases are the most abundant, most ubiquitous genes in nature |
title_sort | transposases are the most abundant, most ubiquitous genes in nature |
topic | Survey and Summary |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2910039/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20215432 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkq140 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT azizramyk transposasesarethemostabundantmostubiquitousgenesinnature AT breitbartmya transposasesarethemostabundantmostubiquitousgenesinnature AT edwardsroberta transposasesarethemostabundantmostubiquitousgenesinnature |