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Correlation between bacterial G+C content, genome size and the G+C content of associated plasmids and bacteriophages.

Almpanis, Apostolos; Swain, Martin; Gatherer, Derek; McEwan, Neil

Authors

Apostolos Almpanis

Martin Swain

Derek Gatherer

Neil McEwan



Abstract

Based on complete bacterial genome sequence data, we demonstrate a correlation between bacterial chromosome length and G+C content of the genome, with longer genomes having higher G+C contents. The correlation value decreases at shorter genome sizes where there is a wider spread of G+C values. However although significant (p < 0.001) the correlation value (Pearson R = 0.58) suggests that other factors also have a significant influence. A similar pattern was seen for plasmids; longer plasmids had higher G+C values, although the large number of shorter plasmids had a wide spread of G+C values. There was also a significant (p < 0.0001) correlation between G+C content of plasmids and the G+C content of their bacterial host. Conversely, the G+C content of bacteriophages tended to reduce with larger genome sizes and although there was a correlation between host genome G+C content and that of bacteriophage it was not as strong as that seen between plasmids and their hosts.

Citation

ALMPANIS, A., SWAIN, M., GATHERER, D. and MCEWAN, N. 2018. Correlation between bacterial G+C content, genome size and the G+C content of associated plasmids and bacteriophages. Microbial genomics [online], 4(4), article number 168. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1099/mgen.0.000168

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 6, 2018
Online Publication Date Apr 1, 2018
Publication Date Apr 30, 2018
Deposit Date Mar 8, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Microbial genomics
Electronic ISSN 2057-5858
Publisher Microbiology Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 4
Issue 4
Article Number 168
DOI https://doi.org/10.1099/mgen.0.000168
Keywords Plasmids; Genome G+C content; Genome length; Bacteria
Public URL http://hdl.handle.net/10059/2796

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