Vinogradov A E
Institute of Cytology, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg.
Tsitologiia. 1999;41(1):5-13.
Data on the relationship between genome size and phenotypic traits of animals and plants are reviewed. Different concepts explaining accumulation of redundant (noncoding) DNA in genomes of eukaryotes are discussed: regulatory (repressory), neutralistic (permissive), skeletal, bodyguard, and buffering, respectively. The relationship between genome size and metabolic rate is presumably the primary one. Possible molecular mechanisms responsible for this relationship are considered. It is concluded that the problem of redundant DNA (genome size paradox) is hardly to solve by studies on molecular level only, since the genome size is a parameter related to molecular, cellular and organismal levels. Redundant DNA seems to be of ecophysiological significance, and therefore the interdisciplinary field dealing with genome size paradox can be called "genome cytoecology".
本文综述了动植物基因组大小与表型性状之间关系的数据。讨论了解释真核生物基因组中冗余（非编码）DNA积累的不同概念：分别为调控（抑制性）、中性（许可性）、框架、保镖和缓冲概念。基因组大小与代谢率之间的关系可能是最主要的。考虑了造成这种关系的可能分子机制。得出的结论是，仅通过分子水平的研究很难解决冗余DNA问题（基因组大小悖论），因为基因组大小是一个与分子、细胞和生物体水平相关的参数。冗余DNA似乎具有生态生理学意义，因此，处理基因组大小悖论的跨学科领域可称为“基因组细胞生态学”。
