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Figure 3 | Biology Direct

Figure 3

From: Energetics and genetics across the prokaryote-eukaryote divide

Figure 3

Energetics of genome size in eukaryotes and prokaryotes. (a). Mean energy per gene in prokaryotes versus eukaryotes equalised for genome size. Prokaryotes in red, eukaryotes in blue. Note log scale. (b). Mean energy per gene in prokaryotes versus eukaryotes equalised for genome size and cell volume; see text. Prokaryotes in red, eukaryotes in blue. Note log scale. (c). Power per haploid genome (energy per gene x number of genes in one haploid genome) in a. E. coli (metabolic rate taken from Ref 60); b. Thiomargarita (metabolic rate taken from Ref 83); c. Epulopiscium (metabolic rate taken, conservatively, to be equal to A. proteus); d. Chlamydomonas (metabolic rate taken from Ref 60); e. Amoeba proteus (metabolic rate taken from Ref 61). Note log scale and broad agreement with derived mean values in (a) and (b). (d). Proportion of genome free to vary (in red) equalised to 100,000 Mb in a. Epulopiscium and b. Amoeba proteus. Blue bar depicts proportion of total DNA content required for maintaining control over cytoplasm using an equal copy number (26,000; scaled from values given in text) of a. a 3.8 Mb genome; and b. a 30 Kb mitochondrial genome. 'Free to evolve' means genomic capacity beyond a standard prokaryotic genome required to govern a fixed volume of cytoplasm.

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