Journal
TRENDS IN GENETICS
Volume 25, Issue 3, Pages 107-110Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE LONDON
DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2008.12.004
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Funding
- NASA Applied Information Systems Research [NNG04GP90G]
- NASA Exobiology [NAG5-12367]
- NSF Microbial Genetics [MCB-0237197]
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The 'pan-genome' denotes the set of all genes present in the genomes of a group of organisms. Here, we extend the pan-genome concept to higher taxonomic units. Using 573 sequenced genomes, we estimate the size of the bacterial pan-genome based on the frequency of occurrences of genes among sampled genomes. Using gene- and genome-centered approaches, we characterize three distinct pools of gene families that comprise the bacterial pan-genome, each evolving under different evolutionary constraints. Our findings indicate that the pan-genome of the bacterial domain is of infinite size (the Bacteria as a whole have an open pan-genome) and that similar to 250 genes per genome belong to the extended bacterial core genome.
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