Biased Gene Conversion and the Evolution of Mammalian Genomic Landscapes Export

@article{citeulike:5333322, abstract = {Recombination is typically thought of as a symmetrical process resulting in large-scale reciprocal genetic exchanges between homologous chromosomes. Recombination events, however, are also accompanied by short-scale, unidirectional exchanges known as gene conversion in the neighborhood of the initiating double-strand break. A large body of evidence suggests that gene conversion is GC-biased in many eukaryotes, including mammals and human. AT/GC heterozygotes produce more GC- than AT-gametes, thus conferring a population advantage to GC-alleles in high-recombining regions. This apparently unimportant feature of our molecular machinery has major evolutionary consequences. Structurally, GC-biased gene conversion explains the spatial distribution of GC-content in mammalian genomes—the so-called isochore structure. Functionally, GC-biased gene conversion promotes the segregation and fixation of deleterious AT → GC mutations, thus increasing our genomic mutation load. Here we review the recent evidence for a GC-biased gene conversion process in mammals, and its consequences for genomic landscapes, molecular evolution, and human functional genomics.}, author = {Duret, Laurent and Galtier, Nicolas}, citeulike-article-id = {5333322}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-genom-082908-150001}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-genom-082908-150001}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19630562}, citeulike-linkout-3 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=19630562}, day = {16}, doi = {10.1146/annurev-genom-082908-150001}, issn = {1545-293X}, journal = {Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics}, keywords = {evolution, gene\_conversion, mutation\_rate, recombination, substitution\_rate}, month = {July}, number = {1}, pages = {285--311}, posted-at = {2009-08-10 12:58:25}, priority = {2}, title = {Biased Gene Conversion and the Evolution of Mammalian Genomic Landscapes}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-genom-082908-150001}, volume = {10}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:5333322 L3 - citeulike-article-id:5333322 N2 - Recombination is typically thought of as a symmetrical process resulting in large-scale reciprocal genetic exchanges between homologous chromosomes. Recombination events, however, are also accompanied by short-scale, unidirectional exchanges known as gene conversion in the neighborhood of the initiating double-strand break. A large body of evidence suggests that gene conversion is GC-biased in many eukaryotes, including mammals and human. AT/GC heterozygotes produce more GC- than AT-gametes, thus conferring a population advantage to GC-alleles in high-recombining regions. This apparently unimportant feature of our molecular machinery has major evolutionary consequences. Structurally, GC-biased gene conversion explains the spatial distribution of GC-content in mammalian genomes—the so-called isochore structure. Functionally, GC-biased gene conversion promotes the segregation and fixation of deleterious AT → GC mutations, thus increasing our genomic mutation load. Here we review the recent evidence for a GC-biased gene conversion process in mammals, and its consequences for genomic landscapes, molecular evolution, and human functional genomics. IS - 1 JF - Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics SN - 1545-293X EP - 311 TI - Biased Gene Conversion and the Evolution of Mammalian Genomic Landscapes VL - 10 SP - 285 KW - evolution KW - gene_conversion KW - mutation_rate KW - recombination KW - substitution_rate AU - Duret, Laurent AU - Galtier, Nicolas PY - 2009/07/16/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-genom-082908-150001 ER -