Accounting for horizontal gene transfers explains conflicting hypotheses regarding the position of aquificales in the phylogeny of Bacteria.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Despite a large agreement between ribosomal RNA and concatenated protein phylogenies, the phylogenetic tree of the bacterial domain remains uncertain in its deepest nodes. For instance, the position of the hyperthermophilic Aquificales is debated, as their commonly observed position close to Thermotogales may proceed from horizontal gene transfers, long branch attraction or compositional biases, and may not represent vertical descent. Indeed, another view, based on the analysis of rare genomic changes, places Aquificales close to epsilon-Proteobacteria.

Results

To get a whole genome view of Aquifex relationships, all trees containing sequences from Aquifex in the HOGENOM database were surveyed. This study revealed that Aquifex is most often found as a neighbour to

SUBMITTER: Boussau B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2584045 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature