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Evolution of Repeated DNA Sequences by Unequal Crossover: DNA whose sequence is not maintained by selection will develop periodicities as a result of random crossover.
Abstract
It is often supposed that highly repetitious DNA's arise only as a result of unusual mechanisms or in response to selective pressure. My arguments and simulations suggest, by contrast, that a pattern of tandem repeats is the natural state of DNA whose sequence is not maintained by selection. The simulations show that periodicities can develop readily from nonrepetitious DNA as a result of the random accumulation of random mutations and random homology-dependent unequal crossovers. The lengths of these periodicities, and the patterns of subrepeats within them, would fluctuate in evolution, with the probability of a given pattern being dependent on the unknown exact nature of the crossover mechanism. Qualitatively, then, unequal crossover provides a reasonable and uncontrived explanation for the prevalence of highly repeated sequences in DNA and for the patterns of periodicity they evince.
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Cited by
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The structure, function and evolution of a complete human chromosome 8
Logsdon, G. A., Vollger, M. R., Hsieh, P., Mao, Y., Liskovykh, M. A., Koren, S., Nurk, S., Mercuri, L., Dishuck, P. C., Rhie, A., et al. (2021) · Nature · doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03420-7 · Cited by 341
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Metadata
- Authors
- Smith, G. P.
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 1976-02-13
- Volume
- 191
- Issue
- 4227
- Pages
- 528-535
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2078769454
- Cited by
- 1,212
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 54.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Evolution of Repeated DNA Sequences by Unequal Crossover: DNA whose sequence is not maintained by selection will develop periodicities as a result of random crossover. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1126/science.1251186
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- Smith, G. P. (1976). Evolution of Repeated DNA Sequences by Unequal Crossover: DNA whose sequence is not maintained by selection will develop periodicities as a result of random crossover. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1251186
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