Bhattachan Punit, Dong Bo
Key Laboratory of Marine Genetics and Breeding, College of Marine Life Sciences, Ocean University of China, No. 5 Yushan Road, Qingdao, 266003, China.
Laboratory for Marine Biology and Biotechnology, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266237, China.
BMC Res Notes. 2019 Jan 25;12(1):60. doi: 10.1186/s13104-019-4097-3.
The relationship between genomic variables (genome size, gene number, intron size, and intron number) and evolutionary forces has two implications. First, they help to unravel the mechanism underlying genome evolution. Second, they provide a solution to the debate over discrepancy between genome size variation and organismal complexity. Previously, a clear correlation between genomic variables and effective population size and mutation rate (Neu) led to an important hypothesis to consider random genetic drift as a major evolutionary force during evolution of genome size and complexity. But recent reports also support natural selection as the leading evolutionary force. As such, the debate remains unresolved.
Here, we used a multivariate method to explore the relationship between genomic variables and Neu in order to understand the evolution of genome. Previously reported patterns between genomic variables and Neu were not observed in our multivariate study. We found only one association between intron number and Neu, but no relationships were observed between genome size, intron size, gene number, and Neu, suggesting that Neu of the organisms solely does not influence genome evolution. We, therefore, concluded that Neu influences intron evolution, while it may not be the only force that provides mechanistic insights into genome evolution and complexity.
基因组变量（基因组大小、基因数量、内含子大小和内含子数量）与进化力量之间的关系有两个意义。首先，它们有助于揭示基因组进化的潜在机制。其次，它们为解决关于基因组大小变异与生物复杂性之间差异的争论提供了一种方法。此前，基因组变量与有效种群大小和突变率（Neu）之间的明确相关性导致了一个重要假设，即认为随机遗传漂变是基因组大小和复杂性进化过程中的主要进化力量。但最近的报告也支持自然选择是主要进化力量。因此，这场争论仍未得到解决。
在这里，我们使用多变量方法来探究基因组变量与Neu之间的关系，以了解基因组的进化。在我们的多变量研究中未观察到先前报道的基因组变量与Neu之间的模式。我们仅发现内含子数量与Neu之间存在一种关联，但未观察到基因组大小、内含子大小、基因数量与Neu之间存在关系，这表明生物体的Neu本身并不影响基因组进化。因此，我们得出结论，Neu影响内含子进化，而它可能不是为基因组进化和复杂性提供机制性见解的唯一力量。
