Variable Region Sequences Influence 16S rRNA Performance
Nikhil Bose, Sean D. Moore
Abstract
species; thus, biological performance is likely constraining the evolution of variable regions in bacteria. Further, the native nucleotide variations we tested occur in all strains of their respective species and across their multiple 16S rRNA gene copies, suggesting that these species evolved beyond what would be discerned from a consensus sequence comparison. Therefore, this work also reveals that the multiple 16S rRNA gene alleles found in most bacteria can provide more informative phylogenetic and taxonomic detail than a single reference allele.
Topics & Concepts
BiologyGeneticsPhylogenetic tree16S ribosomal RNAGenBankPhylogeneticsGeneEvolutionary biologyRibosomal RNAComputational biologyGenomics and Phylogenetic StudiesRNA and protein synthesis mechanismsBacteriophages and microbial interactions