Trusov Y A, Dear P H
Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Branch of Academy of Sciences, Russia.
Nucleic Acids Res. 1996 Mar 15;24(6):995-9. doi: 10.1093/nar/24.6.995.
There is evidence to suggest that eukaryotic genomes are subject to frequent insertions and deletions of non-coding DNA. This may lead to a gradual increase or decrease in genome size, or to a dynamic equilibrium in which the overall size remains constant. We argue, however, that there is a bias favouring an accumulation of non-coding DNA in the proximity of genes. Such bias causes a progressive change in genome structure regardless of whether the overall genome size increases, decreases or remains constant. We show that this change may serve as a 'molecular clock', supplementing that provided by nucleotide substitution rates.
有证据表明,真核生物基因组经常发生非编码DNA的插入和缺失。这可能导致基因组大小逐渐增加或减少,或者导致一种动态平衡,即总体大小保持不变。然而,我们认为,在基因附近存在有利于非编码DNA积累的偏向性。这种偏向性会导致基因组结构发生渐进性变化,而不管基因组总体大小是增加、减少还是保持不变。我们表明,这种变化可以作为一种“分子钟”,补充由核苷酸替换率提供的分子钟。