Abstract
Analysis of genome variation provides insights into mechanisms in genome evolution. This is increasingly appreciated with the rapid growth of genomic data. Mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) are well known to vary substantially in many genomic aspects, such as genome size, sequence context, nucleotide base composition and substitution rate. Such substantial variation makes mitogenomes an excellent model system to study the mechanisms dictating mitogenome variation. Recent sequencing efforts have not only covered a rich number of yeast species but also generated genomes from abundant strains within the same species. The rich yeast genomic data have enabled detailed investigation from genome variation into molecular mechanisms in genome evolution. This mini-review highlights some recent progresses in yeast mitogenome studies.
Highlights
Specialty section: This article was submitted to Evolutionary and Genomic Microbiology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Microbiology
Genetic crosses of different mitochondrial genotypes have been conducted in S. cerevisiae to understand yeast mitochondrial inheritance and genetics (Wilkie and Thomas, 1973)
Using the ratio of nonsynonymous over synonymous Ka/Ks rates as a proxy for the level of genetic drift, a significant positive correlation was evident between the genome-wide Ka/Ks ratios and mitogenome sizes among seven yeast species with sufficient intraspecific diversity (Xiao et al, 2017)
Summary
Mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) are well known to vary substantially in many genomic aspects, such as genome size, sequence context, nucleotide base composition and substitution rate. Such substantial variation makes mitogenomes an excellent model system to study the mechanisms dictating mitogenome variation. The rich yeast genomic data have enabled detailed investigation from genome variation into molecular mechanisms in genome evolution. This mini-review highlights some recent progresses in yeast mitogenome studies. The excitement of mitogenomes inspired more sequencing projects, and perhaps more importantly, many mindful and in-depth comparative genomics studies (Smith, 2015) These efforts continue to push the boundaries of our understanding in genome evolution.
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