Stretches of alternating pyrimidine/purines and purines are respectively linked with pathogenicity and growth temperature in prokaryotes

Background The genomic fractions of purine (RR) and alternating pyrimidine/purine (YR) stretches of 10 base pairs or more, have been linked to genomic AT content, the formation of different DNA helices, strand-biased gene distribution, DNA structure, and more. Although some of these factors are a consequence of the chemical properties of purines and pyrimidines, a thorough statistical examination of the distributions of YR/RR stretches in sequenced prokaryotic chromosomes has to the best of our knowledge, not been undertaken. The aim of this study is to expand upon previous research by using regression analysis to investigate how AT content, habitat, growth temperature, pathogenicity, phyla, oxygen requirement and halotolerance correlated with the distribution of RR and YR stretches in prokaryotes.