Evolutionary Trajectory of the Replication Mode of Bacterial Replicons.

ABSTRACT: As typical bacterial replicons, circular chromosomes replicate bidirectionally and circular plasmids replicate either bidirectionally or unidirectionally. Whereas the finding of chromids (plasmid-derived chromosomes) in multiple bacterial lineages provides circumstantial evidence that chromosomes likely evolved from plasmids, all experimentally assayed chromids were shown to use bidirectional replication. Here, we employed a model system, the marine bacterial genus Pseudoalteromonas, members of which consistently carry a chromosome and a chromid. We provide experimental and bioinformatic evidence that while chromids in a few strains replicate bidirectionally, most replicate unidirectionally. This is the first experimental demonstration of the unidirectional replication mode in bacte

SUBMITTER: Xie BB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7858055 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature