The evolution of isochores.
One of the most striking features of mammalian chromosomes is the variation in G+C content that occurs over scales of hundreds of kilobases to megabases, the so-called 'isochore' structure of the human genome. This variation in base composition affects both coding and non-coding sequences and seems to reflect a fundamental level of genome organization. However, although we have known about isochores for over 25 years, we still have a poor understanding of why they exist. In this article, we review the current evidence for the three main hypotheses.
Eyre-Walker
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Centre for the Study of Evolution and School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK. a.c.eyre-walker@sussex.ac.uk
Hurst
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D002877:Chromosomes, Human / Q000235:genetics; D018900:Dinucleotide Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D020862:GC Rich Sequence / Q000235:genetics*; D015894:Genome, Human; D006801:Humans