Biased Gene Conversion Dynamics in Mammalian Genomes
Summary
Biased gene conversion (BGC) is a neutral molecular process associated with meiotic recombination that preferentially favours the transmission of guanine (G) and cytosine (C) alleles over adenine (A) and thymine (T). In mammalian genomes this mechanism shapes regional GC content, interacts with natural selection and can mimic adaptive signatures in both coding and non-coding regions. BGC is most active within recombination hotspots, where double-strand breaks initiate repair and non-crossover (NCO) or crossover events. Through repeated cycles of repair, allelic tracts become enriched in G and C bases, influencing patterns of nucleotide substitution and complicating inferences about selective pressures. The dynamics of BGC vary among lineages, populations and sexes, reflecting differences in recombination landscape, effective population size and mutation bias. This process has a pronounced impact on genome evolution, from the distribution of isochores to the prevalence of deleterious variants in regions subject to strong conversion bias. Recent advances in genome-scale sequencing and statistical modelling have shed light on the interplay between recombination, gene conversion and selection, offering a refined view of how BGC contributes to mammalian diversity, disease risk and the evolution of genomic architecture.
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Biased Gene Conversion Dynamics in Mammalian Genomes publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in biased gene conversion dynamics in mammalian genomes across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Biased gene conversion (BGC): A recombination-associated process favouring the fixation of G/C alleles over A/T alleles independently of fitness effects.
Recombination hotspot: A genomic region with elevated frequency of double-strand breaks that generate crossover and non-crossover events.
Non-crossover (NCO) event: A form of gene conversion in meiosis where short DNA tracts are copied from one chromosome to another without reciprocal exchange.
dN/dS ratio: The ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous substitution rates, used to infer the balance of purifying and adaptive selection on protein-coding genes.
Derived allele frequency (DAF) spectrum: The distribution of allele frequencies in a population relative to the ancestral state, used to infer evolutionary forces.
References
- NCOurd: modelling length distributions of NCO events and gene conversion tracts. Bioinformatics (2023).
- Influence of Recombination and GC-biased Gene Conversion on the Adaptive and Nonadaptive Substitution Rate in Mammals versus Birds. Molecular Biology and Evolution (2018).
- A Model-Based Analysis of GC-Biased Gene Conversion in the Human and Chimpanzee Genomes. PLOS Genetics (2013).
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