Differences in homologous recombination and maintenance of heteropolyploidy between Haloferax volcanii and Haloferax mediterranei.

ABSTRACT: Polyploidy, the phenomenon of having more than one copy of the genome in an organism, is common among haloarchaea. While providing short-term benefits for DNA repair, polyploidy is generally regarded as an "evolutionary trap" that by the notion of the Muller's ratchet will inevitably conclude in the species' decline or even extinction due to a gradual reduction in fitness. In most reported cases of polyploidy in archaea, the genetic state of the organism is considered as homoploidy i.e. all copies of the genome are identical. Here we demonstrate that while this is indeed the prevalent genetic status in the halophilic archaeon Haloferax volcanii, its close relative H. mediterranei maintains a prolonged heteroploidy state in a nonselective environment once a second allele is introduced. More

SUBMITTER: Dattani A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10085750 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature