T. Ryan Gregory
Trends in Genetics 19(9):
485-488
Abstract
Variation in eukaryotic genome sizes has remained
an
unsolved puzzle for more than half a century. Most traditional
approaches
have ignored the mechanisms of genome size change as an important
component
of the puzzle, or have posited forces capable only of increasing DNA
content.
In an important recent addition, it has been suggested that DNA loss
caused
by biases in small insertions and deletions (indels) can be a
determinant
of genome size. While genome shrinkage has probably been important in
many
groups, the data upon which this specific mechanistic theory are based
are
limited, and must be interpreted with caution.