A selective force favoring increased G+C content in bacterial genes

Rahul Raghavan1, Yogeshwar D Kelkar, Howard Ochman

  • 1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.

Summary

Bacterial genomes show wide G+C content variation. Despite a mutation bias towards A+T, G+C-rich genes enhance bacterial growth, suggesting natural selection drives higher G+C content.

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