Bacterial Growth Temperature as a Horizontally Acquired Polygenic Trait.

ABSTRACT: Evolutionary events leading to organismal preference for a specific growth temperature, as well as genes whose products are needed for a proper function at that temperature, are poorly understood. Using 64 bacteria from phylum Thermotogota as a model system, we examined how optimal growth temperature changed throughout Thermotogota history. We inferred that Thermotogota's last common ancestor was a thermophile and that some Thermotogota evolved the mesophilic and hyperthermophilic lifestyles secondarily. By modeling gain and loss of genes throughout Thermotogota history and by reconstructing their phylogenies, we demonstrated that adaptations to lower and higher growth temperature involve both the acquisition of necessary genes and loss of unnecessary genes. Via a pangenome-wide associatio

SUBMITTER: Farrell AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11719638 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature