Skip Navigation



MBE Advance Access published online on August 10, 2005
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msi233
This Article
Right arrow Advance Access manuscript (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Supplementary Material
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
22/12/2354    most recent
msi233v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Whitaker, R. J.
Right arrow Articles by Taylor, J. W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Whitaker, R. J.
Right arrow Articles by Taylor, J. W.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org
Accepted July 25, 2005

Research Article

Recombination Shapes the Natural Population Structure of the Hyperthermophilic Archaeon Sulfolobus ‘islandicus’

Rachel J. Whitaker 1*, Dennis W. Grogan 2, and John W. Taylor 3

1 Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, 111 Koshland Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-3102; Present address: Ecosystems Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, 151 Hilgard Hall #3110, Berkeley, CA 94720-3110. Phone: (510) 410-4418. Fax: (510) 643-5098
2 Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, 111 Koshland Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-3102; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0006
3 Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, 111 Koshland Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-3102

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Rachel J. Whitaker, E-mail: rwhitaker{at}nature.berkeley.edu


  Abstract

Although microorganisms make up the preponderance of the biodiversity on Earth, the ecological and evolutionary factors that structure microbial populations are not well understood. We investigated the genetic structure of a thermoacidophilic crenarchaeal species, Sulfolobus ‘islandicus’, using multilocus sequence analysis of six variable protein-coding loci on a set of 60 isolates from the Mutnovsky region of Kamchatka, Russia. We demonstrate significant incongruence among gene geneologies and a lack of association between alleles consistent with recombination rates greater than rate of mutation. The observation of high relative rates of recombination suggests that the structure of this natural population does not fit the periodic selection model often used to describe populations of asexual microorganisms. We propose instead that frequent recombination among closely related individuals prevents periodic selection from purging diversity and provides a fundamental cohesive mechanism within this and perhaps other microbial species.

Keywords: Recombination; Population structure; Archaea; Sulfolobus.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
M. L. Reno, N. L. Held, C. J. Fields, P. V. Burke, and R. J. Whitaker
Biogeography of the Sulfolobus islandicus pan-genome
PNAS, May 26, 2009; 106(21): 8605 - 8610.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Appl. Environ. Microbiol.Home page
J. R. White, P. Escobar-Paramo, E. F. Mongodin, K. E. Nelson, and J. DiRuggiero
Extensive Genome Rearrangements and Multiple Horizontal Gene Transfers in a Population of Pyrococcus Isolates from Vulcano Island, Italy
Appl. Envir. Microbiol., October 15, 2008; 74(20): 6447 - 6451.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 GeneticsHome page
J. M. Eppley, G. W. Tyson, W. M. Getz, and J. F. Banfield
Genetic Exchange Across a Species Boundary in the Archaeal Genus Ferroplasma
Genetics, September 1, 2007; 177(1): 407 - 416.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
R. T. Papke, O. Zhaxybayeva, E. J. Feil, K. Sommerfeld, D. Muise, and W. F. Doolittle
Searching for species in haloarchaea
PNAS, August 28, 2007; 104(35): 14092 - 14097.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
E. E. Allen, G. W. Tyson, R. J. Whitaker, J. C. Detter, P. M. Richardson, and J. F. Banfield
Genome dynamics in a natural archaeal population
PNAS, February 6, 2007; 104(6): 1883 - 1888.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Phil Trans R Soc BHome page
W. P Hanage, C. Fraser, and B. G Spratt
Sequences, sequence clusters and bacterial species
Phil Trans R Soc B, November 29, 2006; 361(1475): 1917 - 1927.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Phil Trans R Soc BHome page
R. J Whitaker
Allopatric origins of microbial species
Phil Trans R Soc B, November 29, 2006; 361(1475): 1975 - 1984.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.