Co-occurrence is associated with horizontal gene transfer across marine bacteria independent of phylogeny.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the drivers and consequences of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a key goal of microbial evolution research. Although co-occurring taxa have long been appreciated to undergo HGT more often, this association is confounded with other factors, most notably their phylogenetic relatedness. To disentangle these factors, we analyzed 15 339 marine prokaryotic genomes (mainly bacteria) and their distribution in the global ocean. We identified HGT events across these genomes and enrichments for functions previously shown to be prone to HGT. By mapping metagenomic reads from 1862 ocean samples to these genomes, we also identified co-occurrence patterns and environmental associations. Although we observed an expected negative association between HGT rates and phylogenetic distance, we o

SUBMITTER: Douglas GM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12815264 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature