Complete ecological isolation and cryptic diversity in Polynucleobacter bacteria not resolved by 16S rRNA gene sequences.

ABSTRACT: Transplantation experiments and genome comparisons were used to determine if lineages of planktonic Polynucleobacter almost indistinguishable by their 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequences differ distinctively in their ecophysiological and genomic traits. The results of three transplantation experiments differing in complexity of biotic interactions revealed complete ecological isolation between some of the lineages. This pattern fits well to the previously detected environmental distribution of lineages along chemical gradients, as well as to differences in gene content putatively providing adaptation to chemically distinct habitats. Patterns of distribution of iron transporter genes across 209 Polynucleobacter strains obtained from freshwater systems and representing a broad pH spectrum fur

SUBMITTER: Hahn MW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4913878 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature