Abstract
Variably present genes and pseudogenes in Rickettsia species tend to have been acquired more recently and to be more divergent from the genes conserved across all species
Highlights
IntroductionEvolved pathogens in particular have many pseudogenes [2], and the genomes of intracellular bacteria such as Rickettsia and Mycobacteria have exceptionally high fractions of noncoding DNA and pseudogenes (>25%) [3,4]
The program was applied to a comparative analysis of eight Rickettsia genomes and a closely related outgroup, O. tsutsugamushi, plus the more distantly related outgroup W. pipientis
Present open reading frame (ORF) account for 30% to 40% of the rickettsial genomes and a majority of these represents mobile genetic elements and associated genes acquired by horizontal gene transfers
Summary
Evolved pathogens in particular have many pseudogenes [2], and the genomes of intracellular bacteria such as Rickettsia and Mycobacteria have exceptionally high fractions of noncoding DNA and pseudogenes (>25%) [3,4]. This has been accounted for by reductive genome evolution and small effective population sizes [5,6]. It was suggested that the reduced threat of genetic parasites in the protected intracellular environment has lowered the genomic deletion rate, making pseudogene elimination a slower process [7] This model was based on the assumption that horizontal gene transfers are rare in intracellular bacterial populations
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