Genome Size

B Venkatesh, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Singapore

Published online: September 2005

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0005007

Genome sizes of organisms vary widely between and within different phylogenetic groups. Factors contributing to the genome sizes are duplication of a part or the whole of the genome, insertions, spread of repetitive elements and deletion of part or whole chromosomes.

Keywords: genome size; C-value; chromosome number; minimal genome; synteny

 Further Reading
    book Cavalier-Smith T (ed.) (1985) The Evolution of Genome Size. New York, NY: Wiley.
    Doolittle RF (1997) Microbial genomes opened up. Nature 392: 339–342.
    Hinegardner R and Rosen DE (1972) Cellular DNA content and the evolution of teleostean fishes. American Naturalist 106: 621–644.
    O'Brien SJ, Menotti-Raymond M, Murphy WJ, et al. (1999) The promise of comparative genomics in mammals. Science 286: 458–481.
    book Ohno S (1974) Animal Cytogenetics: Chordata 1. Berlin, Germany: Gebruder Bornträger.
    Tiersch TR and Wachtel SS (1991) On the evolution of genome size of birds. Journal of Heredity 82: 363–368.
    Venkatesh B, Gilligan P and Brenner S (2000) Fugu: a compact vertebrate reference genome. FEBS Letters 476: 3–7.

Related Sub-Topics:

Basic Cell Biology, Protein, RNA and DNA | Gene and Genome Structure and Organisation | Chromosomes and Chromatin Modifications | DNA Structure and Function | Evolution of Coding and Functional Modules
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Article Title: Genome Size
 
How to Cite close
Venkatesh, B(Sep 2005) Genome Size. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0005007]