A universal and constant rate of gene content change traces pangenome flux to LUCA.

ABSTRACT: Prokaryotic genomes constantly undergo gene flux via lateral gene transfer, generating a pangenome structure consisting of a conserved core genome surrounded by a more variable accessory genome shell. Over time, flux generates change in genome content. Here, we measure and compare the rate of genome flux for 5655 prokaryotic genomes as a function of amino acid sequence divergence in 36 universally distributed proteins of the informational core (IC). We find a clock of gene content change. The long-term average rate of gene content flux is remarkably constant across all higher prokaryotic taxa sampled, whereby the size of the accessory genome-the proportion of the genome harboring gene content difference for genome pairs-varies across taxa. The proportion of species-level accessory genes pe

SUBMITTER: Trost K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11394098 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature