Evolutionary barriers to horizontal gene transfer in macrophage-associated Salmonella.

ABSTRACT: Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a powerful evolutionary force facilitating bacterial adaptation and emergence of novel phenotypes. Several factors, including environmental ones, are predicted to restrict HGT, but we lack systematic and experimental data supporting these predictions. Here, we address this gap by measuring the relative fitness of 44 genes horizontally transferred from Escherichia coli to Salmonella enterica in infection-relevant environments. We estimated the distribution of fitness effects in each environment and identified that dosage-dependent effects across different environments are a significant barrier to HGT. The majority of genes were found to be deleterious. We also found longer genes had stronger negative fitness consequences than shorter ones, sho

SUBMITTER: Bhatia RP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10355182 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature