Your browser version may not work well with NCBI's Web applications. More information here...
Related Articles, Links
Click here to read
Asymmetric substitution patterns: a review of possible underlying mutational or selective mechanisms.

Frank AC, Lobry JR.

CNRS UMR 5558, Biométrie, Biologie Evolutive, Université Claude Bernard, Villeurbanne, France.

In the absence of bias between the two DNA strands for mutation and selection, the base composition within each strand should be such that A = T and C = G (this state is called Parity Rule type 2, PR2). At a genome scale, i.e. when considering the base composition of a whole genome, PR2 is a good approximation, but there are local and systematic deviations. The question is whether these deviations are a consequence of an underlying bias in mutation or selection. We have tried to review published hypotheses to classify them within the mutational or selective group. This dichotomy is, however, too crude because there is at least one hypothesis based simultaneously upon mutation and selection.

Publication Types:
PMID: 10570985 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]