Alterations in genome sequence and structure contribute to somatic disease, affect the
fitness of subsequent generations and drive evolutionary processes. The crucial roles of …

Mutations spawn genetic variation which, in turn, fuels evolution. Hence, experimental
investigations into the rate and fitness effects of spontaneous mutations are central to the …

Knowledge of the rate and nature of spontaneous mutation is fundamental to understanding
evolutionary and molecular processes. In this report, we analyze spontaneous mutations …

Mutation is the engine that drives evolution and adaptation forward in that it generates the
variation on which natural selection acts. Mutation is a random process that nevertheless …

In many organisms, selection acts on synonymous codons to improve translation. However,
the precise basis of this selection remains unclear in the majority of species. Selection could …

A fundamental biological question is what forces shape the guanine plus cytosine (GC)
content of genomes. We studied the specificity and rate of different mutational biases in real …

Transcription requires unwinding complementary DNA strands, generating torsional stress,
and sensitizing the exposed single strands to chemical reactions and endogenous …

The genomes of bacterial species show enormous plasticity in the function of individual
genes, in genome organization and in regulatory organization. Over millions of years, both …

Background Because bacteria do not have a robust fossil record, attempts to infer the timing
of events in their evolutionary history requires comparisons of molecular sequences. This …

Transition bias, an overabundance of transitions relative to transversions, has been widely
reported among studies of the rates and spectra of spontaneous mutations. However …