Nucleic Acids Research, Vol 27, Issue 8 1847-1853, Copyright © 1999 by Oxford University Press
Y Fukuda, T Washio and M Tomita
Overlapping genes are defined, in this paper, as a pair of adjacent genes
whose coding regions are partly overlapping. We systematically analyzed all
overlapping genes in the genomes of two closely related species: Mycoplasma
genitalium and Mycoplasma pneumoniae. Careful comparisons were made for
homologous genes that are overlapped in one species but not in the other.
This comparative analysis allows us to propose a model of how overlapping
genes emerged in the course of evolution. It was found that overlapping
genes were generated primarily due to the loss of a stop codon in either
gene, in many cases, the absence of which resulted in elongation of the 3'
end of the gene's coding region. More specifically, the loss of the stop
codon took place as a result of the following events: deletion of the stop
codon (64.4%), point mutation at the stop codon (4.4%), and frame shift at
the end of the coding region (6.7%). Overlapping genes, in a sense, can be
thought of as the results of evolutionary pressure to minimize genome size.
However, our analysis indicates that many overlapping genes, at least in
the genomes of M.genitalium and M.pneumoniae, are due to incidental
elongation of the coding regions.
ARTICLES
Comparative study of overlapping genes in the genomes of Mycoplasma genitalium and Mycoplasma pneumoniae
Laboratory for Bioinformatics, Department of Environmental Information and Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, 5322 Endo, Fujisawa 252, Japan.
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