Compositional Correlation Between Open Reading Frames with Opposite Transcriptional Orientations in Escherichia coli

Abstract.

This paper analyzes correlations in base composition between pairs of neighboring genes in Escherichia coli. The G + C contents of nearby, but convergently or divergently transcribed, genes show weak but significant correlations, and this is attributed to compositional variation among genomic regions. The finding that the base composition varies among intergenic regions, depending upon whether the adjacent genes are transcribed convergently, divergently, or in the same orientation, seems to indicate that transcription affects the patterns of mutation and, therefore, the overall base composition of the region.