Transformation of natural genetic variation into Haemophilus influenzae genomes.

ABSTRACT: Many bacteria are able to efficiently bind and take up double-stranded DNA fragments, and the resulting natural transformation shapes bacterial genomes, transmits antibiotic resistance, and allows escape from immune surveillance. The genomes of many competent pathogens show evidence of extensive historical recombination between lineages, but the actual recombination events have not been well characterized. We used DNA from a clinical isolate of Haemophilus influenzae to transform competent cells of a laboratory strain. To identify which of the ~40,000 polymorphic differences had recombined into the genomes of four transformed clones, their genomes and their donor and recipient parents were deep sequenced to high coverage. Each clone was found to contain ~1000 donor polymorphisms in 3-6 con

SUBMITTER: Mell JC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3145789 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature