The probability of nonsense mutation caused by replication-associated mutational pressure is much higher for bacterial genes from lagging than from leading strands

Genomics. 2010 Sep;96(3):173-80. doi: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2010.06.002. Epub 2010 Jun 18.

Abstract

We studied nucleotide usage biases in 4-fold degenerated sites of all the genes from leading and lagging strands of 30 bacterial genomes. The level of guanine in 4-fold degenerated sites (G4f) is significantly lower in genes from lagging strands than in genes from leading strands, probably because of the faster rates of guanine oxidation in single-stranded DNA leading to G to T transversions. The rates of cytosine deamination causing C to T transitions are also higher in lagging strands. We showed that the level of codons able to form stop-codons by the way of G to T transversions and C to T transitions is always higher than the level of codons able to form stop-codons by the way of C to A transversions and G to A transitions. This circumstance can be an explanation of the lower percent of ORFs in lagging strands of bacterial replichores than in leading strands.

MeSH terms

  • Base Composition / genetics
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Codon / genetics
  • Codon, Nonsense / genetics*
  • DNA Replication / genetics
  • DNA Replication / physiology*
  • DNA, Single-Stranded / biosynthesis
  • DNA, Single-Stranded / genetics*
  • Genes, Bacterial / genetics*
  • Genes, Bacterial / physiology
  • Guanine / metabolism
  • Oxidation-Reduction
  • Phylogeny

Substances

  • Codon
  • Codon, Nonsense
  • DNA, Single-Stranded
  • Guanine