The power of operon rearrangements for predicting functional associations

In this mini-review I aim to make the case that operons might be the most powerful source for predicted associations among gene products. Such associations can help identify potential processes where the products of unannotated genes might play a role. The power of the operon for providing insight into functional associations stems from four features: (1) on average, around 60% of the genes in prokaryotes are associated into operons; (2) the functional associations between genes in operons tend to be highly conserved; (3) operons can be predicted with high accuracy by conservation of gene order and by the distances between adjacent genes in the same DNA strand; and (4) operons frequently reorganize, providing further insight into functional associations that would not be evident without these reorganization events.