Missing Genes in Prokaryotic Genomes
Author Information
Author(s): Warren Andrew S, Archuleta Jeremy, Feng Wu-chun, Setubal João Carlos
Primary Institution: Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
Hypothesis
Are current genome annotations systematically missing small genes?
Conclusion
Prokaryotic gene finders and genome annotations need improvement to accurately predict small genes.
Supporting Evidence
- 1,153 candidate genes were found missing from current genome annotations.
- 38,895 intergenic ORFs were identified as putative genes.
- The majority of missing genes are small, less than 100 amino acids.
Takeaway
Scientists found that many small genes are missing from the databases that help us understand bacteria, which means we might not know everything about them.
Methodology
The study compared Open Reading Frames (ORFs) from fully-sequenced prokaryotic genomes using a high-performance computing methodology.
Limitations
The criteria used to identify missing genes were conservative, likely underestimating the actual number of missing genes.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Want to read the original?
Access the complete publication on the publisher's website