Algebraic distribution of segmental duplication lengths in whole-genome sequence self-alignments.

PLoS One · 2011

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Distributions of duplicated sequences from genome self-alignment are characterized, including forward and backward alignments in bacteria and eukaryotes. A Markovian process without auto-correlation should generate an exponential distribution expected from local effects of point mutation and selection on localised function; however, the observed distributions show substantial deviation from exponential form--they are roughly algebraic instead--suggesting a novel kind of long-distance correlation that must be non-local in origin.