A monthly journal publishing high-quality, peer-reviewed research on all topics related to RNA and its metabolism in all organisms

Abstract. Meiotic drivers are selfish genetic elements that are predicted to spark rapid intra-genomic arms races with their suppressors. However, the long

Abstract. Meiotic drivers are selfish genetic elements that gain transmission advantages by distorting equal, Mendelian segregation. For decades, biologist

The colonization of low-light environments exerts selective pressure to enhance non-visual senses while relaxing selection on vision, often leading to opsi

A place for bioinformatics software that has been abandoned - Bioinformatics Orphanage

At Davos, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney set fire to liberal platitudes. His actual politics, however, do quite the opposite.

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Archaeal extrachromosomal elements (ECEs) are arguably the least well understood of all genetic elements, and few have > 200 kbp ("jumbo") genomes. Here, we report circular, jumbo ECEs with genomes of up to 535 kbp in length that associate with anaerobic methane-oxidizing Methanoperedens archaea. Notably, a 409-kbp genome related to jumbo ECEs is integrated into a subset of the ~4.2 Mbp Methanoperedens chromosomes at the tRNA-Asp genes. This represents the largest integrative element in Archaea and supports the jumbo ECE - host association. Multiple genome alignment and phylogenetic analyses suggest that the large sizes were developed by extensive DNA acquisition from Methanoperedens. The newly identified ECEs encode, and in some cases express, metabolic genes such as tetrahydromethanopterin S-methyltransferase exclusively involved in methane oxidation, and genes for nitrogen and sulfur compound transformations. Also encoded are defense systems, some of which are absent in hosts, such as hybrid Type I/Type III-A CRISPR-Cas systems. In contrast to viruses and plasmids, they have host-like replication machinery and occur at stable copy ratios of 1.44 ± 0.24 : 1 to the host. Overall, our results reveal a spectrum of jumbo ECEs of Methanoperedens, ranging from plasmid-like to minichromosome-like. ### Competing Interest Statement J.F.B. is a co-founder of Metagenomi. The remaining authors declare no competing interests. Emerson Collective (United States)

Abstract. Polyploidization has been recognized as a major force in plant evolution. With the continuous progress in sequencing technologies and genome asse

Introduction. Klebsiella pneumoniae is an opportunistic pathogen that causes a wide spectrum of infections within healthcare settings and the community. Four K. pneumoniae sub-lineages, defined using ...

TnPedia provides a curated framework for understanding prokaryotic transposable elements (TEs), including general and historical information and basic concepts, while integrating mechanistic insights,...