TY - JOUR
T1 - On the total number of genes and their length distribution in complete microbial genomes
AU - Skovgaard, Marie
AU - Jensen, L.J.
AU - Brunak, Søren
AU - Ussery, David
AU - Krogh, Anders Stærmose
PY - 2001
Y1 - 2001
N2 - In sequenced microbial genomes, some of the annotated genes are actually not protein-coding genes, but rather open reading frames that occur by chance. Therefore, the number of annotated genes is higher than the actual number of genes for most of these microbes. Comparison of the length distribution of the annotated genes with the length distribution of those matching a known protein reveals that too many short genes are annotated in many genomes. Here we estimate the true number of protein-coding genes for sequenced genomes. Although it is often claimed that Escherichia coli has about 4300 genes, we show that it probably has only similar to 3800 genes, and that a similar discrepancy exists for almost all published genomes.
AB - In sequenced microbial genomes, some of the annotated genes are actually not protein-coding genes, but rather open reading frames that occur by chance. Therefore, the number of annotated genes is higher than the actual number of genes for most of these microbes. Comparison of the length distribution of the annotated genes with the length distribution of those matching a known protein reveals that too many short genes are annotated in many genomes. Here we estimate the true number of protein-coding genes for sequenced genomes. Although it is often claimed that Escherichia coli has about 4300 genes, we show that it probably has only similar to 3800 genes, and that a similar discrepancy exists for almost all published genomes.
KW - cbs
U2 - 10.1016/S0168-9525(01)02372-1
DO - 10.1016/S0168-9525(01)02372-1
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0168-9525
VL - 17
SP - 425
EP - 428
JO - Trends in Genetics
JF - Trends in Genetics
IS - 8
ER -