A tale of two lineages: how the strains of the earliest divergent symbiotic Frankia clade spread over the world.

ABSTRACT: It is currently assumed that around 100 million years ago, the common ancestor to the Fabales, Fagales, Rosales and Cucurbitales in Gondwana, developed a root nodule symbiosis with a nitrogen-fixing bacterium. The symbiotic trait evolved first in Frankia cluster-2; thus, strains belonging to this cluster are the best extant representatives of this original symbiont. Most cluster-2 strains could not be cultured to date, except for Frankia coriariae, and therefore many aspects of the symbiosis are still elusive. Based on phylogenetics of cluster-2 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), it has been shown that the genomes of strains originating in Eurasia are highly conserved. These MAGs are more closely related to Frankia cluster-2 in North America than to the single genome available thus far f

SUBMITTER: Berckx F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9392346 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature