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A genomic island (GI) is part of a genome that has evidence of horizontal origins.[1] The term is usually used in microbiology, especially with regard to bacteria. A GI can code for many functions, can be involved in symbiosis or pathogenesis, and may help an organism's adaptation. Many sub-classes of GIs exist that are based on the function that they confer.[2] For example, a GI associated with pathogenesis is often called a pathogenicity island (PAIs), while GIs that contain many antibiotic resistant genes are referred to as antibiotic resistance islands. The same GI can occur in distantly related species as a result of various types of horizontal gene transfer (transformation, conjugation, transduction). This can be determined by base composition analysis, as well as phylogeny estimations.
- ^ Langille, MG; Hsiao, WW; Brinkman, FS (May 2010). "Detecting genomic islands using bioinformatics approaches". Nature Reviews. Microbiology. 8 (5): 373–82. doi:10.1038/nrmicro2350. PMID 20395967. S2CID 2373228.
- ^ Juhas, Mario; van der Meer, Jan Roelof; Gaillard, Muriel; Harding, Rosalind M; Hood, Derek W; Crook, Derrick W (March 2009). "Genomic islands: tools of bacterial horizontal gene transfer and evolution". FEMS Microbiology Reviews. 33 (2): 376–393. doi:10.1111/j.1574-6976.2008.00136.x. ISSN 0168-6445. PMC 2704930. PMID 19178566.