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The Isochores as a Fundamental Level of Genome Structure and Organization: A General Overview

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Abstract

The recent availability of a number of fully sequenced genomes (including marine organisms) allowed to map very precisely the isochores, based on DNA sequences, confirming the results obtained before genome sequencing by the ultracentrifugation in CsCl. In fact, the analytical profile of human DNA showed that the vertebrate genome is a mosaic of isochores, typically megabase-size DNA segments that belong to a small number of families characterized by different GC levels. In this review, we will concentrate on some general genome features regarding the compositional organization from different organisms and their evolution, ranging from vertebrates to invertebrates until unicellular organisms. Since isochores are tightly linked to biological properties such as gene density, replication timing, and recombination, the new level of detail provided by the isochore map helped the understanding of genome structure, function, and evolution. All the findings reported here confirm the idea that the isochores can be considered as a “fundamental level of genome structure and organization.” We stress that we do not discuss in this review the origin of isochores, which is still a matter of controversy, but we focus on well established structural and physiological aspects.

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Fig. 1

Modified from Costantini et al. 2009. (Color figure online)

Fig. 2

(Modified from Cammarano et al. 2009). (Color figure online)

Fig. 3

(Modified from Costantini et al. 2013). (Color figure online)

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Acknowledgements

We thank Prof. Giorgio Bernardi for his strong support in all the work cited in this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and Evolution of Marine Organisms, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121, Napoli, Italy

    Maria Costantini

  2. Laboratorio de Organización y Evolución del Genoma, Unidad de Genómica Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Héctor Musto

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  1. Maria Costantini
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Correspondence to Maria Costantini.

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Costantini, M., Musto, H. The Isochores as a Fundamental Level of Genome Structure and Organization: A General Overview. J Mol Evol 84, 93–103 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-017-9785-9

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