Order and disorder in bacterial genomes

Abstract

The availability of sequenced bacterial genomes allows a deeper understanding of their organizational features that are related with fundamental cellular processes such as coordinated gene expression, chromosome replication and cell division. Nevertheless, recent genome comparisons and experimental work highlighted the fluidity of bacterial chromosomes, including genome rearrangements that imperil the selective features of chromosome order. As a result, the clash between elements generating rearrangements and chromosome organization is a classic case of evolutionary conflict.