Gene inversion potentiates bacterial evolvability and virulence

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 4662 - 10
• Main Authors: Merrikh, Christopher N, Merrikh, Houra
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 07.11.2018; Nature Publishing Group UK; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: Alleles; Antibiotic resistance; Antibiotics; Bacteria; Bacteria - genetics; Bacteria - pathogenicity; Base Composition - genetics; Base Sequence; Biological Evolution; Collisions; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Divergence; DNA; DNA, Bacterial - genetics; Drug Resistance, Microbial - genetics; Genes; Genes, Bacterial; Genomes; Inversion; Inversions; Mutation; Mutation Rate; Mutation rates; Orientation; Pathogens; Phylogeny; Positive selection; Replication; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; Selection, Genetic; Species Specificity; Time Factors; Transcription; Virulence; Virulence - genetics

Most bacterial genes are encoded on the leading strand, co-orienting the movement of the replication machinery with RNA polymerases. This bias reduces the frequency of detrimental head-on collisions between the two machineries. The negative outcomes of these collisions should lead to selection again...