G+C Content Evolution in the Human Genome

Wentian Li, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, New York, USA

Published online: April 2013

DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0021751

The proportion of guanine (G) or cytosine (C) nucleotide bases in the human genome is approximately 40%. Fluctuating relatively to this averaged G+C content, there are large chromosomal regions with alternatingly high and low local G+C contents. The (G+C)-rich genomic regions are typically gene rich, replicated earlier and higher in recombination activities. Many aspects of the evolution of base composition leading to the local G+C variations in the human genome have been debated, including the origin of the alternating G+C structure, whether (G+C)-rich regions have been vanishing or emerging, what are the main mutational or nonmutational mechanisms driving the G+C content, whether G+C content is determined by neutral evolution or selection or both. A particularly promising scenario for G+C evolution is to consider the open and closed chromatin structures which naturally provide a differential mutational environment for different chromosome regions.

Key Concepts:

  • Human genome is characterised by alternatingly high and low G+C regions.
  • Such pattern of alternatingly high and low G+C regions is not unique for the human genome. It is also present in species which diverged from a common ancestor a few hundred millions years ago.
  • Both mutational and nonmutational mechanisms could be responsible for shaping the G+C content in human. The former creates new alleles with a changed G+C content, the latter biased transmits existing polymorphic alleles towards either higher or lower G+C.
  • The suggestion of natural selection playing a crucial role in maintaining high G+C regions is based on the observation that high G+C regions are also high in several biological activities (translation, transcription and recombination).
  • Chromatin structure may provide a differential mutational environment by being accessible (open) or inaccessible (closed) to other protein molecules.

Keywords: human genome; base composition; genome evolution; DNA; mutations; chromatin structure

Figure 1. Each human chromosome is partitioned into four types of sequences: within/outside GENCODE gencode (http://www.gencodegenes.org/) and within/outside transposable elements (repetitive sequences). Sequences that are not transposable elements are called unique sequences. (a) Chromosome-specific G+C calculated from the whole chromosome (circles), non-GENCODE (or intergenic) sequences (black line), GENCODE/repeat sequences (red line), GENCODE/unique sequences (orange line), non-GENCODE/repeat sequences (blue line) and non-GENCODE/unique sequences (green line). (b) Scatter plot of three types of G+C (red, orange and blue, in y-axis) versus the G+C obtained from non-GENCODE/unique sequences (in x-axis). Chromosomes 22 and 19 are (G+C)-rich, whereas chromosomes 4 and 13 are (G+C)-poor.
Figure 2. Schematic illustration of gene conversion. Each vertical bar represents a single-stranded DNA, and a double-bar haplo copy of the genome near a chromosome position. The genotype at the base position can either be AG (then the person is heterozygous) or AA (homozygous). If everybody in a population is homozygous with the same genotype, the site is not polymorphic (and no longer a single-nucleotide polymorphism). Gene conversion does not introduce a new allele, only potentially distorts the variants pool from which to randomly pick a gamete for the next generation. If the site is not polymorphic, gene conversion has no effect. If a person is homozygous (c), gene conversion also has no effect. For a polymorphic site and for a person with heterozygote, gene conversion may increase the G+C if it is (G+C)-biased (e.g. a), or decrease G+C if it is (A+T)-biased (b). For this single site, the increase of C or G bases is 0.75–0.5=0.25 (a) or –0.25 (b).
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Related Sub-Topics:

Evolutionary Genomics | Molecular Evolution | Human Evolution
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Article Title: G+C Content Evolution in the Human Genome
 
How to Cite close
Li, Wentian(Apr 2013) G+C Content Evolution in the Human Genome. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0021751]