The regional rule for bacterial base composition
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Published on: July 24, 2021
1MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QH, UK. gjm@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk
Abstract:
If one looks at the composition of coding DNA and of three types of intergenic regions--those between convergent, parallel and divergent genes--a striking pattern is seen in a wide range of bacteria. The AT-content of coding sequence is lowest, and the AT-contents of the intergenic regions increase in the order: convergent, parallel and divergent. Why does this pattern occur? In this article, I suggest an explanation based on the structural requirements for the binding of transcription factors.
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