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Clustering of gene ontology terms in genomes.

Tiirikka, Timo ; Siermala, Markku and Vihinen, Mauno LU orcid (2014) In Gene 550(2). p.155-164
Abstract
Although protein coding genes occupy only a small fraction of genomes in higher species, they are not randomly distributed within or between chromosomes. Clustering of genes with related function(s) and/or characteristics has been evident at several different levels. To study how common the clustering of functionally related genes is and what kind of functions the end products of these genes are involved, we collected gene ontology (GO) terms for complete genomes and developed a method to detect previously undefined gene clustering. Exhaustive analysis was performed for seven widely studied species ranging from human to Escherichia coli. To overcome problems related to varying gene lengths and densities, a novel method was developed and a... (More)
Although protein coding genes occupy only a small fraction of genomes in higher species, they are not randomly distributed within or between chromosomes. Clustering of genes with related function(s) and/or characteristics has been evident at several different levels. To study how common the clustering of functionally related genes is and what kind of functions the end products of these genes are involved, we collected gene ontology (GO) terms for complete genomes and developed a method to detect previously undefined gene clustering. Exhaustive analysis was performed for seven widely studied species ranging from human to Escherichia coli. To overcome problems related to varying gene lengths and densities, a novel method was developed and a fixed number of genes were analyzed irrespective of the genome span covered. Statistically very significant GO term clustering was apparent in all the investigated genomes. The analysis window, which ranged from 5 to 50 consecutive genes, revealed extensive GO term clusters for genes with widely varying functions. Here, the most interesting and significant results are discussed and the complete dataset for each analyzed species is available at the GOme database at http://bioinf.uta.fi/GOme. The results indicated that clusters of genes with related functions are very common, not only in bacteria, in which operons are frequent, but also in all the studied species irrespective of how complex they are. There are some differences between species but in all of them GO term clusters are common and of widely differing sizes. The presented method can be applied to analyze any genome or part of a genome for which descriptive features are available, and thus is not restricted to ontology terms. This method can also be applied to investigate gene and protein expression patterns. The results pave a way for further studies of mechanisms that shape genome structure and evolutionary forces related to them. (Less)
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Gene
volume
550
issue
2
pages
155 - 164
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • pmid:24995610
  • wos:000342715300001
  • scopus:84921692518
  • pmid:24995610
ISSN
1879-0038
DOI
10.1016/j.gene.2014.06.060
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ad08aebf-5ae8-4270-a0cd-e513a797292d (old id 4583431)
alternative location
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24995610?dopt=Abstract
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 11:16:45
date last changed
2022-01-26 06:52:19
@article{ad08aebf-5ae8-4270-a0cd-e513a797292d,
  abstract     = {{Although protein coding genes occupy only a small fraction of genomes in higher species, they are not randomly distributed within or between chromosomes. Clustering of genes with related function(s) and/or characteristics has been evident at several different levels. To study how common the clustering of functionally related genes is and what kind of functions the end products of these genes are involved, we collected gene ontology (GO) terms for complete genomes and developed a method to detect previously undefined gene clustering. Exhaustive analysis was performed for seven widely studied species ranging from human to Escherichia coli. To overcome problems related to varying gene lengths and densities, a novel method was developed and a fixed number of genes were analyzed irrespective of the genome span covered. Statistically very significant GO term clustering was apparent in all the investigated genomes. The analysis window, which ranged from 5 to 50 consecutive genes, revealed extensive GO term clusters for genes with widely varying functions. Here, the most interesting and significant results are discussed and the complete dataset for each analyzed species is available at the GOme database at http://bioinf.uta.fi/GOme. The results indicated that clusters of genes with related functions are very common, not only in bacteria, in which operons are frequent, but also in all the studied species irrespective of how complex they are. There are some differences between species but in all of them GO term clusters are common and of widely differing sizes. The presented method can be applied to analyze any genome or part of a genome for which descriptive features are available, and thus is not restricted to ontology terms. This method can also be applied to investigate gene and protein expression patterns. The results pave a way for further studies of mechanisms that shape genome structure and evolutionary forces related to them.}},
  author       = {{Tiirikka, Timo and Siermala, Markku and Vihinen, Mauno}},
  issn         = {{1879-0038}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{155--164}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Gene}},
  title        = {{Clustering of gene ontology terms in genomes.}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/2526676/8565872.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.gene.2014.06.060}},
  volume       = {{550}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}