Propagation of heterologous DNA in E. coli host cells is central to molecular biology. DNA constructs are often engineered for expression of recombinant protein in E. coli, but the extent of incidental transcription arising from natural regulatory sequences in cloned DNA remains under explored. Here, we have used programmable microarrays and RT-PCR to measure, comprehensively, the transcription of H. influenzae, P. aeruginosa and human DNA propagating in E. coli as Bacterial Artificial Chromosomes. We find ...

It has been a puzzle that genome or proteome sizes are not correlated with the complexity of the organisms. Although alternative splicing and noncoding and regulatory elements explain some of the differences, the complexity of the protein interaction network and regulatory network may provide additional explanations. Here, we collected 642 domains that mediate protein–protein interactions (PPIs) and examined the evolution of the PPI domains and its impact on organismal complexity and PPI network complexity. In ...