Effect of the environment on horizontal gene transfer between bacteria and archaea.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Horizontal gene transfer, the transfer and incorporation of genetic material between different species of organisms, has an important but poorly quantified role in the adaptation of microbes to their environment. Previous work has shown that genome size and the number of horizontally transferred genes are strongly correlated. Here we consider how genome size confuses the quantification of horizontal gene transfer because the number of genes an organism accumulates over time depends on its evolutionary history and ecological context (e.g., the nutrient regime for which it is adapted).

Results

We investigated horizontal gene transfer between archaea and bacteria by first counting reciprocal BLAST hits among 448 bacterial and 57 archaeal genomes to find shared genes.

SUBMITTER: Fuchsman CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5624296 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature