ArticlePLoS genetics2020
Horizontal transmission and recombination maintain forever young bacterial symbiont genomes.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 49 citations in OpenAlex.
- Stability in flexibility: Shifting alliances stabilize the symbioses of marine animals over 150 million years.Science advances · 2026Article
- Ultra-accurate sequencing reveals an extreme transmission bottleneck in a deep-sea clam symbiosis.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Distance-Limited Larval Replenishment in the Deep-Sea Mussel Gigantidas platifrons Challenges Connectivity-Based Conservation Planning.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Computational approach to identify novel genomic features conferring high fitness in Bacillus atrophaeus CNY01 and Bacillus velezensis AK-0 associated with plant growth promotion (PGP) in apple.BMC plant biology · 2024Article
- Symbiont Acquisition Strategies in Post-Settlement Stages of Two Co-Occurring Deep-SeaEcology and evolution · 2024Article
- The Microbiota of Moon Snail Egg Collars is Shaped by Host-Specific Factors.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Ecological drift during colonization drives within-host and between-host heterogeneity in an animal-associated symbiont.PLoS biology · 2024Article
- Divergent marine anaerobic ciliates harbor closely related Methanocorpusculum endosymbionts.The ISME journal · 2024Article
- Ecology and evolution of the social microbiome.Annual review of ecology, evolution, and systematics · 2024Article
- Mosaic environment-driven evolution of the deep-sea mussel Gigantidas platifrons bacterial endosymbiont.Microbiome · 2023Article
- Genetic Covariation Between the Vertically Transmitted Endophyte Epichloë canadensis and Its Host Canada Wildrye.Microbial ecology · 2023Article
- Comparative genomics of Mollicutes-related endobacteria supports a late invasion into Mucoromycota fungi.Communications biology · 2023Article
- Ecological differences among hydrothermal vent symbioses may drive contrasting patterns of symbiont population differentiation.mSystems · 2023Article
- Chromosome-level reference genome of stinkwort, Dittrichia graveolens (L.) Greuter: A resource for studies on invasion, range expansion, and evolutionary adaptation under global change.The Journal of heredity · 2023Article
- Early genome erosion and internal phage-symbiont-host interaction in the endosymbionts of a cold-seep tubeworm.iScience · 2023Article
- Social transmission of bacterial symbionts homogenizes the microbiome within and across generations of group-living spiders.ISME communications · 2023Article
- Metabolic handoffs between multiple symbionts may benefit the deep-sea bathymodioline mussels.ISME communications · 2023Article
- Population genetic analysis of the microsporidium Ordospora colligata reveals the role of natural selection and phylogeography on its extremely compact and reduced genome.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2023Article
- Gene gain facilitated endosymbiotic evolution of Chlamydiae.Nature microbiology · 2023Article
- How It All Begins: Bacterial Factors Mediating the Colonization of Invertebrate Hosts by Beneficial Symbionts.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2022Review
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Bacterial symbionts bring a wealth of functions to the associations they participate in, but by doing so, they endanger the genes and genomes underlying these abilities. When bacterial symbionts become obligately associated with their hosts, their genomes are thought to decay towards an organelle-like fate due to decreased homologous recombination and inefficient selection. However, numerous associations exist that counter these expectations, especially in marine environments, possibly due to ongoing horizontal gene flow. Despite extensive theoretical treatment, no empirical study thus far has connected these underlying population genetic processes with long-term evolutionary outcomes. By sampling marine chemosynthetic bacterial-bivalve endosymbioses that range from primarily vertical to strictly horizontal transmission, we tested this canonical theory. We found that transmission mode strongly predicts homologous recombination rates, and that exceedingly low recombination rates are associated with moderate genome degradation in the marine symbionts with nearly strict vertical transmission. Nonetheless, even the most degraded marine endosymbiont genomes are occasionally horizontally transmitted and are much larger than their terrestrial insect symbiont counterparts. Therefore, horizontal transmission and recombination enable efficient natural selection to maintain intermediate symbiont genome sizes and substantial functional genetic variation.
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