Molecular signatures identify a candidate target of balancing selection in an arcD-like gene of Staphylococcus epidermidis.

ABSTRACT: A comparative population genetics study revealed high levels of nucleotide polymorphism and intermediate-frequency alleles in an arcC gene of Staphylococcus epidermidis, but not in a homologous gene of the more aggressive human pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus. Further investigation showed that the arcC genes used in the multilocus sequence typing schemes of these two species were paralogs. Phylogenetic analyses of arcC-containing loci, including the arginine catabolic mobile element, from both species, suggested that these loci had an eventful history involving gene duplications, rearrangements, deletions, and horizontal transfers. The peak signatures in the polymorphic S. epidermidis locus were traced to an arcD-like gene adjacent to arcC; these signatures consisted of unusually elevated

SUBMITTER: Zhang L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3493253 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature