How many genes does Chlamydomonas have?
We know the DNA content, and we can approximate the average size of a
gene..... but what's missing for the estimate of the number of genes is the
average size of SPACES BETWEEN GENES. Restriction analysis of genomic
fragments, where specific genes are being sought, would probably not be
informative: who knows what other genes might lie in the intervening "blank"
spaces? What is necessary is a sequenced region that contains the end of one
gene and the beginning of the next. Lack of open reading frames in the
intervening space would be a good indication that there's no gene there. If we
had a few examples, we could get the average size of intergenic regions, and
then estimate the total number of genes. Has anyone sequenced a long enough
stretch of ANY region of the Chlamydomonas nuclear genome to give the size of
an intergenic region?
Peter Luykx
Biology Dept.
Univ. of Miami
