Genomic Mosaics
Marc Marenda
from: Mollicutes: Molecular Biology and Pathogenesis (Edited by: Glenn F. Browning and Christine Citti). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2014)
Abstract
It is generally assumed that the high level of host specialisation and the adoption of isolated, parasitic lifestyles that occurred during the reductive evolution of mollicutes could only result in the evolution of small, stable genomes with a high coding density. This view has been challenged recently by the analyses of an ever-increasing number of whole-genome sequences. The comparative genomics of related mycoplasma species and isolates from the same species have shown that mobile genetic elements and lateral gene transfers have produced mosaic genomes with much more plasticity than previously anticipated. This could have significant consequences on the diagnosis, virulence and taxonomy of these organisms read more ...
