ArticlePLoS genetics2022
Genome size distributions in bacteria and archaea are strongly linked to evolutionary history at broad phylogenetic scales.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 49 citations in OpenAlex.
- Why did some viruses evolve to be giants while others did not?Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Genome-based predictions of metabolic preferences and substrate phenotypes in psychrotrophic bacteria from permafrost environments.Microbiology spectrum · 2026Article
- MATRIX: rapid quantification of total and active microbial cells with single-cell phenotypes for environmental microbiomes.mSystems · 2026Article
- Disturbance intensity shapes universal and context-dependent functional traits in anaerobic microbiomes.Environmental science and ecotechnology · 2026Article
- Replication Rate-Information Storage Trade-Off Shapes Genome Architecture Across Domains.Journal of molecular evolution · 2026Article
- The heterogeneous selection landscape of genome evolution in prokaryotes.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Comprehensive genomic analysis of a novelMicrobiology spectrum · 2026Article
- The heterogeneous selection landscape of genome evolution in prokaryotes.Research square · 2025Article
- Nitrogen-fixing microbes gain genes in diverse types of living environments.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Leveraging FracMinHash Containment for GenomicbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Widely-distributed freshwater microorganisms with streamlined genomes co-occur in cohorts with high abundance.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Leveraging the subgenus category to address monophyletic genus over-splitting: illustration with recently proposedInternational journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology · 2025Article
- Unveiling novel features and phylogenomic assessment of indigenousMicrobiology spectrum · 2025Article
- Codon bias, nucleotide selection, and genome size predict in situ bacterial growth rate and transcription in rewetted soil.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Investigating the Impact of Whole-Genome Duplication on Transposable Element Evolution in Teleost Fishes.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Glacier influence shapes the genomic architecture of the downstream aquatic microbiome.ISME communications · 2025Article
- Resolution of MALDI-TOF compared to whole genome sequencing for identification ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Genome Streamlining: Effect of Mutation Rate and Population Size on Genome Size Reduction.Genome biology and evolution · 2024Article
- Article
- Flexible and cost-effective genomic surveillance of P. falciparum malaria with targeted nanopore sequencing.Nature communications · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The evolutionary forces that determine genome size in bacteria and archaea have been the subject of intense debate over the last few decades. Although the preferential loss of genes observed in prokaryotes is explained through the deletional bias, factors promoting and preventing the fixation of such gene losses often remain unclear. Importantly, statistical analyses on this topic typically do not consider the potential bias introduced by the shared ancestry of many lineages, which is critical when using species as data points because of the potential dependence on residuals. In this study, we investigated the genome size distributions across a broad diversity of bacteria and archaea to evaluate if this trait is phylogenetically conserved at broad phylogenetic scales. After model fit, Pagel's lambda indicated a strong phylogenetic signal in genome size data, suggesting that the diversification of this trait is influenced by shared evolutionary histories. We used a phylogenetic generalized least-squares analysis (PGLS) to test whether phylogeny influences the predictability of genome size from dN/dS ratios and 16S copy number, two variables that have been previously linked to genome size. These results confirm that failure to account for evolutionary history can lead to biased interpretations of genome size predictors. Overall, our results indicate that although bacteria and archaea can rapidly gain and lose genetic material through gene transfers and deletions, respectively, phylogenetic signal for genome size distributions can still be recovered at broad phylogenetic scales that should be taken into account when inferring the drivers of genome size evolution.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.