ArticleBMC evolutionary biology2012
Evolution of variation in presence and absence of genes in bacterial pathways.
Article in BMC evolutionary biology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 75 citations in OpenAlex.
- Integrated functional genomics and safety assessment of plant-growth-promoting Caryophanales from post-maize-cultivation soils.BMC genomics · 2026Article
- Adaptive genomic plasticity in large-genome, broad-host-range vibrio phages.The ISME journal · 2025Article
- Ancestral state reconstruction of metabolic pathways across pangenome ensembles.Microbial genomics · 2020Article
- Microevolution of Streptococcus agalactiae ST-261 from Australia Indicates Dissemination via Imported Tilapia and Ongoing Adaptation to Marine Hosts or Environment.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2018Article
- Reductive genome evolution at both ends of the bacterial population size spectrum.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2014Article
- Bacterial genome instability.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2014Review
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
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Abstract
backgroundBacterial genomes exhibit a remarkable degree of variation in the presence and absence of genes, which probably extends to the level of individual pathways. This variation may be a consequence of the significant evolutionary role played by horizontal gene transfer, but might also be explained by the loss of genes through mutation. A challenge is to understand why there would be variation in gene presence within pathways if they confer a benefit only when complete.
resultsHere, we develop a mathematical model to study how variation in pathway content is produced by horizontal transfer, gene loss and partial exposure of a population to a novel environment.
conclusionsWe discuss the possibility that variation in gene presence acts as cryptic genetic variation on which selection acts when the appropriate environment occurs. We find that a high level of variation in gene presence can be readily explained by decay of the pathway through mutation when there is no longer exposure to the selective environment, or when selection becomes too weak to maintain the genes. In the context of pathway variation the role of horizontal gene transfer is probably the initial introduction of a complete novel pathway rather than in building up the variation in a genome without the pathway.
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