A universal and constant rate of gene content change traces pangenome flux to LUCA.
FEMS Microbiol Lett
; 3712024 Jan 09.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-39165128
ABSTRACT
Prokaryotic genomes constantly undergo gene flux via lateral gene transfer, generating a pangenome structure consisting of a conserved core genome surrounded by a more variable accessory genome shell. Over time, flux generates change in genome content. Here, we measure and compare the rate of genome flux for 5655 prokaryotic genomes as a function of amino acid sequence divergence in 36 universally distributed proteins of the informational core (IC). We find a clock of gene content change. The long-term average rate of gene content flux is remarkably constant across all higher prokaryotic taxa sampled, whereby the size of the accessory genome-the proportion of the genome harboring gene content difference for genome pairs-varies across taxa. The proportion of species-level accessory genes per genome, varies from 0% (Chlamydia) to 30%-33% (Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, and Clostridia). A clock-like rate of gene content change across all prokaryotic taxa sampled suggest that pangenome structure is a general feature of prokaryotic genomes and that it has been in existence since the divergence of bacteria and archaea.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Bacteria
/
Genome, Bacterial
/
Archaea
/
Evolution, Molecular
/
Genome, Archaeal
Language:
En
Journal:
FEMS Microbiol Lett
/
FEMS microbiol. lett
/
FEMS microbiology letters
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Alemania
Country of publication:
Reino Unido