GC3 heterogeneity and body temperature in vertebrates.
A recent paper by Belle et al. (J. Mol. Evol. 55 (2002) 356) reported an analysis of mean GC(3) (the GC level of third codon positions) and standard deviations of GC(3) of vertebrate genomes as related to body temperature, and concluded that "the thermal stability hypothesis does not appear to explain the general patterns of composition", apparently contradicting a previous working hypothesis from our laboratory. We have analyzed the data of Belle et al. and find that their data not only do not contradict the thermal stability hypothesis, but if anything support it.
Jabbari
Kamel
K
Laboratoire de Génétique Moléculaire, Institut Jacques Monod, 2 Place Jussieu, F-75005 Paris, France.
Clay
Oliver
O
Bernardi
Giorgio
G
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D001482:Base Composition / Q000235:genetics*; D001831:Body Temperature / Q000235:genetics*; D003062:Codon / Q000235:genetics*; D020862:GC Rich Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016678:Genome; D006801:Humans; D032085:Isochores / Q000235:genetics; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000235:genetics*
D003062:Codon; D032085:Isochores