ArticlePLoS genetics2015
GC-Content evolution in bacterial genomes: the biased gene conversion hypothesis expands.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 129 papers.
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Who cites it
129 citing papers in PubMed.
- Genomic insights into the resistome, mobilome and functional adaptation ofMicrobial genomics · 2026Article
- Linkage of nucleotide and functional diversity varies across gut bacteria.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Article
- Genetic Exchanges Shape the Evolutionary Diversification Among Shigella phages.Journal of molecular evolution · 2026Article
- Gene conversion is a key driver of diversity hotspots inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Recombination and Retroprocessing in Broomrapes Reveal RNA-Mediated Gene Transfer Mechanism and a Generalizable Model for Mitochondrial Evolution in Heterotrophic Plants.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Characterizing the ecological niche of insertion sequences within prokaryotic genomes.The ISME journal · 2026Article
- Genomic adaptation strategies to habitat switching in Korarchaeota.Science advances · 2026Article
- Host-Specific Adaptation of Legionella pneumophila to Single and Multiple Hosts.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Decoding the mitogenome of rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus): insights into genome evolution, structural dynamics and prospects for mitochondrial engineering.BMC plant biology · 2025Article
- Low Mutation Rate and Atypical Mutation Spectrum in Prasinoderma coloniale: Insights From an Early Diverging Green Lineage.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Prospective identification of extracellular triacylglycerol hydrolase with conserved amino acids inBiotechnology reports (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2025Article
- Homologous recombination shapes the architecture and evolution of bacterial genomes.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Metabolic redundancy and specialisation of novel sulfide-oxidizing Sulfurimonas and Sulfurovum along the brine-seawater interface of the Kebrit Deep.Environmental microbiome · 2025Article
- G-quadruplex structures in 16S rRNA regions correlate with thermal adaptation in prokaryotes.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Metagenomic characterization of the metabolism, evolution, and global distribution of Candidatus Accumulibacter members in wastewater treatment plants.The ISME journal · 2025Article
- Evolution of Plant Genome Size and Composition.Genomics, proteomics & bioinformatics · 2024Review
- The GC% landscape of the Nucleocytoviricota.Brazilian journal of microbiology : [publication of the Brazilian Society for Microbiology] · 2024Article
- Unraveling the impact of genome assembly on bacterial typing: a one health perspective.BMC genomics · 2024Article
- Homologous Recombination Shapes the Architecture and Evolution of Bacterial Genomes.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
69 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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6 authors.
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Abstract
The characterization of functional elements in genomes relies on the identification of the footprints of natural selection. In this quest, taking into account neutral evolutionary processes such as mutation and genetic drift is crucial because these forces can generate patterns that may obscure or mimic signatures of selection. In mammals, and probably in many eukaryotes, another such confounding factor called GC-Biased Gene Conversion (gBGC) has been documented. This mechanism generates patterns identical to what is expected under selection for higher GC-content, specifically in highly recombining genomic regions. Recent results have suggested that a mysterious selective force favouring higher GC-content exists in Bacteria but the possibility that it could be gBGC has been excluded. Here, we show that gBGC is probably at work in most if not all bacterial species. First we find a consistent positive relationship between the GC-content of a gene and evidence of intra-genic recombination throughout a broad spectrum of bacterial clades. Second, we show that the evolutionary force responsible for this pattern is acting independently from selection on codon usage, and could potentially interfere with selection in favor of optimal AU-ending codons. A comparison with data from human populations shows that the intensity of gBGC in Bacteria is comparable to what has been reported in mammals. We propose that gBGC is not restricted to sexual Eukaryotes but also widespread among Bacteria and could therefore be an ancestral feature of cellular organisms. We argue that if gBGC occurs in bacteria, it can account for previously unexplained observations, such as the apparent non-equilibrium of base substitution patterns and the heterogeneity of gene composition within bacterial genomes. Because gBGC produces patterns similar to positive selection, it is essential to take this process into account when studying the evolutionary forces at work in bacterial genomes.
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