Ribosomal RNA diversity predicts genome diversity in gut bacteria and their relatives.

ABSTRACT: The mammalian gut is an attractive model for exploring the general question of how habitat impacts the evolution of gene content. Therefore, we have characterized the relationship between 16 S rRNA gene sequence similarity and overall levels of gene conservation in four groups of species: gut specialists and cosmopolitans, each of which can be divided into pathogens and non-pathogens. At short phylogenetic distances, specialist or cosmopolitan bacteria found in the gut share fewer genes than is typical for genomes that come from non-gut environments, but at longer phylogenetic distances gut bacteria are more similar to each other than are genomes at equivalent evolutionary distances from non-gut environments, suggesting a pattern of short-term specialization but long-term convergence. More

SUBMITTER: Zaneveld JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2896507 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature