Size of the Whole versus Number of Parts in Genomes
It is known that chromosome number tends to decrease as genome size increases in angiosperm plants. Here the relationship between number of parts (the chromosomes) and size of the whole (the genome) is studied for other groups of organisms from different kingdoms. Two major results are obtained. Fir...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2011-08-01
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| Series: | Entropy |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/13/8/1465/ |
| _version_ | 1811183857159897088 |
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| author | Núria Forns Ramon Ferrer-i-Cancho Jaume Baixeries Antoni Hernández-Fernández |
| author_facet | Núria Forns Ramon Ferrer-i-Cancho Jaume Baixeries Antoni Hernández-Fernández |
| author_sort | Núria Forns |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | It is known that chromosome number tends to decrease as genome size increases in angiosperm plants. Here the relationship between number of parts (the chromosomes) and size of the whole (the genome) is studied for other groups of organisms from different kingdoms. Two major results are obtained. First, the finding of relationships of the kind “the more parts the smaller the whole” as in angiosperms, but also relationships of the kind “the more parts the larger the whole”. Second, these dependencies are not linear in general. The implications of the dependencies between genome size and chromosome number are two-fold. First, they indicate that arguments against the relevance of the finding of negative correlations consistent with Menzerath-Altmann law (a linguistic law that relates the size of the parts with the size of the whole) in genomes are seriously flawed. Second, they unravel the weakness of a recent model of chromosome lengths based upon random breakage that assumes that chromosome number and genome size are independent. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T13:03:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-51cf680d7d7741409830234617b7bb88 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1099-4300 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T13:03:38Z |
| publishDate | 2011-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Entropy |
| spelling | doaj.art-51cf680d7d7741409830234617b7bb882022-12-22T04:22:50ZengMDPI AGEntropy1099-43002011-08-011381465148010.3390/e13081465Size of the Whole versus Number of Parts in GenomesNúria FornsRamon Ferrer-i-CanchoJaume BaixeriesAntoni Hernández-FernándezIt is known that chromosome number tends to decrease as genome size increases in angiosperm plants. Here the relationship between number of parts (the chromosomes) and size of the whole (the genome) is studied for other groups of organisms from different kingdoms. Two major results are obtained. First, the finding of relationships of the kind “the more parts the smaller the whole” as in angiosperms, but also relationships of the kind “the more parts the larger the whole”. Second, these dependencies are not linear in general. The implications of the dependencies between genome size and chromosome number are two-fold. First, they indicate that arguments against the relevance of the finding of negative correlations consistent with Menzerath-Altmann law (a linguistic law that relates the size of the parts with the size of the whole) in genomes are seriously flawed. Second, they unravel the weakness of a recent model of chromosome lengths based upon random breakage that assumes that chromosome number and genome size are independent.http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/13/8/1465/Menzerath-Altmann lawgenome sizechromosomes |
| spellingShingle | Núria Forns Ramon Ferrer-i-Cancho Jaume Baixeries Antoni Hernández-Fernández Size of the Whole versus Number of Parts in Genomes Entropy Menzerath-Altmann law genome size chromosomes |
| title | Size of the Whole versus Number of Parts in Genomes |
| title_full | Size of the Whole versus Number of Parts in Genomes |
| title_fullStr | Size of the Whole versus Number of Parts in Genomes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Size of the Whole versus Number of Parts in Genomes |
| title_short | Size of the Whole versus Number of Parts in Genomes |
| title_sort | size of the whole versus number of parts in genomes |
| topic | Menzerath-Altmann law genome size chromosomes |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/13/8/1465/ |
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