Analysis of similarity within 142 pairs of orthologous intergenic regions of Caenorhabditis elegans and Caenorhabditis briggsae.

ABSTRACT: Patterns of similarity between genomes of related species reflect the distribution of selective constraint within DNA. We analyzed alignments of 142 orthologous intergenic regions of Caenorhabditis elegans and Caenorhabditis briggsae and found a mosaic pattern with regions of high similarity (phylogenetic footprints) interspersed with non-alignable sequences. Footprints cover approximately 20% of intergenic regions, often occur in clumps and are rare within 5' UTRs but common within 3' UTRs. The footprints have a higher ratio of transitions to transversions than expected at random and a higher GC content than the rest of the intergenic region. The number of footprints and the GC content of footprints within an intergenic region are higher when genes are oriented so that their 5' ends form

SUBMITTER: Webb CT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC101251 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature