The Role of the Environment in Horizontal Gene Transfer.

ABSTRACT: Gene-by-environment interactions play a crucial role in horizontal gene transfer by affecting how the transferred genes alter host fitness. However, how the environment modulates the fitness effect of transferred genes has not been tested systematically in an experimental study. We adapted a high-throughput technique for obtaining very precise estimates of bacterial fitness, in order to measure the fitness effects of 44 orthologs transferred from Salmonella Typhimurium to Escherichia coli in six physiologically relevant environments. We found that the fitness effects of individual genes were highly dependent on the environment, while the distributions of fitness effects across genes were not, with all tested environments resulting in distributions of same shape and spread. Furthermore, the

SUBMITTER: Acar Kirit H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9641970 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature