ArticleBMC genomics2022
A positive correlation between GC content and growth temperature in prokaryotes.
Article in BMC genomics, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 67 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
67 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 119 citations in OpenAlex.
- pH-Dependent Degradation of Macrobial Environmental DNA in Water.Molecular ecology resources · 2026Pooled it
- Smaller Genomes and Shorter Prophage Sequences Differentiate Clinical from Environmental Isolates ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Global microbial DNA signatures of temperature and nutrient limitation across ecosystems.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
- Genomic characteristics and geographical distribution of uncultivated soil prokaryotes.BMC genomics · 2026Article
- Ecological plasticity ofMicrobiology spectrum · 2026Article
- The Maximum Growth Temperature for Eukaryotes Is Thermodynamically Driven but Ecologically Contingent.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Taxonomy bias in metagenome-assembled genome recovery.Microbial genomics · 2026Article
- Genomic and evolutionary factors influencing the prediction accuracy of optimal growth temperature in prokaryotes.mSystems · 2026Article
- Functional flexibility in bacterial hub proteins is driven by proteome expansion.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Characterization of a thermotolerant strain inhibiting tobacco-specific nitrosamines in cigar fermentation.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2026Article
- Big Spider, Big Genome: Chromosome-Level Genome of a North American Tarantula (Aphonopelma marxi) and Comparative Genomics Across 300 Million Years of Spider Evolution.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Cultivation-Based Detection of a Novel High-GC Nitrospira Derived From the Argentinian Copahue Volcano Area.Environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Temperature-driven metabolic adaptation in thermophilic microbial communities of Western Sichuan hot springs.BMC microbiology · 2026Article
- Design of a global population-covering multi-epitope mRNA vaccine against Lassa virus using immunoinformatics.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Uncovering hidden phylo- and ecogenomic diversity of the widespread methanotrophic genus Methylobacter.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2026Article
- Comparative genomics of crucian carp-isolatedFrontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Molecular adaptations and engineering of extremophiles for synthetic biology and biotechnological applications.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- Article
- Article
7 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundGC pairs are generally more stable than AT pairs; GC-rich genomes were proposed to be more adapted to high temperatures than AT-rich genomes. Previous studies consistently showed positive correlations between growth temperature and the GC contents of structural RNA genes. However, for the whole genome sequences and the silent sites of the codons in protein-coding genes, the relationship between GC content and growth temperature is in a long-lasting debate.
resultsWith a dataset much larger than previous studies (681 bacteria and 155 archaea with completely assembled genomes), our phylogenetic comparative analyses showed positive correlations between optimal growth temperature (Topt) and GC content both in bacterial and archaeal structural RNA genes and in bacterial whole genome sequences, chromosomal sequences, plasmid sequences, core genes, and accessory genes. However, in the 155 archaea, we did not observe a significant positive correlation of Topt with whole-genome GC content (GC
conclusionsThis study explains the previous contradictory observations and ends a long debate. Prokaryotes growing in high temperatures have higher GC contents. Thermal adaptation is one possible explanation for the positive association. Meanwhile, we propose that the elevated efficiency of DNA repair in response to heat mutagenesis might have the by-product of increasing GC content like that happens in intracellular symbionts and marine bacterioplankton.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.