Genome Biology

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The complexity of simplicity

Scott N Peterson* and Claire M Fraser

Author Affiliations

The Institute for Genomic Research, 9712 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, Maryland 20850, USA

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Genome Biology 2001, 2:comment2002-comment2002.8 doi:10.1186/gb-2001-2-2-comment2002

Published: 8 February 2001

Abstract

What is the minimum number of genes or functions necessary to support cellular life? The concept of a 'minimal genome' has become popular, but is it a useful concept, and if so, what might a minimal genome encode? We argue that the concept may be useful, even though the goal of defining a general minimal genome may never be attained.