ArticleGenome biology2005
Accelerated evolution associated with genome reduction in a free-living prokaryote.
Article in Genome biology, 2005. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 190 papers.
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190 citing papers in PubMed, 343 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Eco-evolutionary strategies for relieving carbon limitation under salt stress differ across microbial clades.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Repeated horizontal acquisition of lagriamide-producing symbionts in Lagriinae beetles.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Repeated horizontal acquisition of lagriamide-producing symbionts in Lagriinae beetles.The ISME journal · 2024Article
- Flexible genomic island conservation across freshwater and marine Methylophilaceae.The ISME journal · 2024Article
- Chitin utilization by marine picocyanobacteria and the evolution of a planktonic lifestyle.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Abiotic selection of microbial genome size in the global ocean.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Evolutionary pathways for deep-sea adaptation in marine planktonicFrontiers in microbiology · 2023Article
- Introduction to Cyanobacteria.Advances in biochemical engineering/biotechnology · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThree complete genomes of Prochlorococcus species, the smallest and most abundant photosynthetic organism in the ocean, have recently been published. Comparative genome analyses reveal that genome shrinkage has occurred within this genus, associated with a sharp reduction in G+C content. As all examples of genome reduction characterized so far have been restricted to endosymbionts or pathogens, with a host-dependent lifestyle, the observed genome reduction in Prochlorococcus is the first documented example of such a process in a free-living organism.
resultsOur results clearly indicate that genome reduction has been accompanied by an increased rate of protein evolution in P. marinus SS120 that is even more pronounced in P. marinus MED4. This acceleration has affected every functional category of protein-coding genes. In contrast, the 16S rRNA gene seems to have evolved clock-like in this genus. We observed that MED4 and SS120 have lost several DNA-repair genes, the absence of which could be related to the mutational bias and the acceleration of amino-acid substitution.
conclusionsWe have examined the evolutionary mechanisms involved in this process, which are different from those known from host-dependent organisms. Indeed, most substitutions that have occurred in Prochlorococcus have to be selectively neutral, as the large size of populations imposes low genetic drift and strong purifying selection. We assume that the major driving force behind genome reduction within the Prochlorococcus radiation has been a selective process favoring the adaptation of this organism to its environment. A scenario is proposed for genome evolution in this genus.
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