Affiliation:
1. Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SZ, UK
Abstract
The connectivity of a gene, defined as the number of interactions a gene's product has with other genes' products, is a key characteristic of a gene. In prokaryotes, the complexity hypothesis predicts that genes which undergo more frequent horizontal transfer will be less connected than genes which are only very rarely transferred. We tested the role of horizontal gene transfer, and other potentially important factors, by examining the connectivity of chromosomal and plasmid genes, across 134 diverse prokaryotic species. We found that (i) genes on plasmids were less connected than genes on chromosomes; (ii) connectivity of plasmid genes was not correlated with plasmid mobility; and (iii) the sociality of genes (cooperative or private) was not correlated with gene connectivity.
Funder
European Research Council
Subject
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Environmental Science,General Immunology and Microbiology,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Medicine
Cited by
5 articles.
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