Researchers explain the origin of the mysterious periodicity of the genome

Scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) have found an explanation for a periodicity in the sequence of the genomes of all eukaryotes, from yeast to humans. The results published in the journal Cell offer an alternative explanation to the one based on natural selection, which has been accepted by the scientific community to date. The researchers demonstrate that DNA damage and repair processes can play a role in the generation of sequence periodicity in the genomes of eukaryotic organisms. These processes are influenced by the orientation of the DNA structure when this molecule is packaged inside the cell nucleus, thus favoring a certain composition with a periodic nature in eukaryotic genomes. "The answer we provide allows a better understanding of why our genome and that of other species have developed into what they are today," says Núria López-Bigas, head of the study and leader of the Biomedical Genomics lab at IRB Barcelona.