Recombination Signal in Mycobacterium tuberculosis Stems from Reference-guided Assemblies and Alignment Artefacts.

ABSTRACT: DNA acquisition via genetic recombination is considered advantageous as it has the potential to bring together beneficial mutations that emerge independently within a population. Furthermore, recombination is considered to contribute to the maintenance of genome stability by purging slightly deleterious mutations. The prevalence of recombination differs among prokaryotic species and depends on the accessibility of DNA transfer mechanisms. An exceptional example is the human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) where no clear transfer mechanisms have been so far characterized and the presence of recombination is questioned. Here, we analyze completely assembled MTB genomes in search for evidence of recombination. We find that putative recombination events are enriched in strains recons

SUBMITTER: Godfroid M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6086087 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature