Structural and Evolutionary Genomics Natural Selection in Genome Evolution

About this book

Structural genomics is the study of the DNA of living organisms. Evolutionary genomics is the study of the history of the genome. These subjects are closely interlinked. They are approached in this book using as a guideline the investigations carried out in the author's laboratory, relevant literature is critically reviewed and some general conclusions are presented.

The author and his collaborators have studied a vast number of genomes, ranging from prokaryotes to human, using different approaches, including physical chemistry of DNA, viral integration and molecular cytogenetics. As the subtitle indicates the book discusses the fundamental importance of natural selection in shaping genomes. In terms of numbers, neutral and nearly neutral mutations represent most mutations, but a "regional" control is exerted by natural selection (essentially negative or purifying selection). A "neo-selectionist" model is proposed for genome evolution.

Contents

Section Contents Preface. Part 1: Introduction. Part 2: Lessons from a small dispensable genome, the mitochondrial genome of yeast. Part 3: The organisation of the vertebrate genome. Part 4: The compositional patterns of vertebrate genomes. Part 5: Sequence distribution in the vertebrate genomes. Part 6: The distribution of integrated viral sequences, transposons and duplicated genes in the mammalian genome. Part 7: The organization of organization of chromosomes in vertebrates. Part 8: The organization of plant genomes. Part 9: The compositional patterns of the genomes of invertebrates, unicellular eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Part 10: Gene composition and protein structure. Part 11: The compositional evolution of vertebrate genomes. Part 12: Natural selection and genetic drift in genome evolution: The neo-selectionist model. Conclusions. Abbreviations References. Other volumes in the series.

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