Unprecedented levels of horizontal gene transfer among spatially co-occurring Shewanella bacteria from the Baltic Sea.

ABSTRACT: High-throughput sequencing studies during the last decade have uncovered that bacterial genomes are very diverse and dynamic, resulting primarily from the frequent and promiscuous horizontal gene exchange that characterizes the bacterial domain of life. However, a robust understanding of the rates of genetic exchange for most bacterial species under natural conditions and the influence of the ecological settings on the rates remain elusive, severely limiting our view of the microbial world. Here, we analyzed the complete genomic sequences and expressed transcriptomes of several Shewanella baltica isolates recovered from different depths in the Baltic Sea and found that isolates from more similar depths had exchanged a larger fraction of their core and auxiliary genome, up to 20% of the tot

SUBMITTER: Caro-Quintero A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3105679 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature