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PMID: 16093568 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Recombination shapes the natural population structure of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus islandicus.

Molecular biology and evolution ·Vol. 22 ·No. 12 ·2005-12-00 ·Pages 2354-61

Whitaker RJ, Grogan DW, Taylor JW

Abstract

Although microorganisms make up the preponderance of the biodiversity on Earth, the ecological and evolutionary factors that structure microbial populations are not well understood. We investigated the genetic structure of a thermoacidophilic crenarchaeal species, Sulfolobus islandicus, using multilocus sequence analysis of six variable protein-coding loci on a set of 60 isolates from the Mutnovsky region of Kamchatka, Russia. We demonstrate significant incongruence among gene genealogies and a lack of association between alleles consistent with recombination rates greater than the rate of mutation. The observation of high relative rates of recombination suggests that the structure of this natural population does not fit the periodic selection model often used to describe populations of asexual microorganisms. We propose instead that frequent recombination among closely related individuals prevents periodic selection from purging diversity and provides a fundamental cohesive mechanism within this and perhaps other archaeal species.

MeSH Terms

Ecosystem Gene Frequency Genetic Linkage Genetic Variation Genetics, Population Geologic Sediments/microbiology Linkage Disequilibrium Models, Genetic Molecular Sequence Data Mutation Phylogeny Polymorphism, Genetic Recombination, Genetic Rudiviridae Russia Selection, Genetic Sulfolobus/genetics

Authors & Affiliations

3 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID

Whitaker Rachel J

Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, USA. rwhitaker@nature.berkeley.edu

Grogan Dennis W

Taylor John W

Article Info

Journal

Molecular biology and evolution

Abbr.

Mol Biol Evol

ISSN

0737-4038

DOI

10.1093/molbev/msi233

rwhitaker@nature.berkeley.edu

Published

2005-12-00

Epub

2005-00-10

Pages

2354-61

Language

English

Region

United States

NLM ID

8501455

Subset

Databases

GENBANK

AY740403, AY740404, AY740405, AY740406, AY740407, AY740408, AY740409, AY740410, AY740411, AY740412, AY740413, AY740414, AY740415, AY740416, AY740417, AY740418, AY740419, AY740420, AY740421, AY740422, AY740423

External Links

PubMed source DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msi233 View journal details

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Recombination shapes the natural population structure of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus islandicus.

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