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A molecular study of microbe transfer between distant environments

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Item Type:Article
Title:A molecular study of microbe transfer between distant environments
Creators Name:Hooper, S.D., Raes, J., Foerstner, K.U., Harrington, E.D., Dalevi, D. and Bork, P.
Abstract:BACKGROUND: Environments and their organic content are generally not static and isolated, but in a constant state of exchange and interaction with each other. Through physical or biological processes, organisms, especially microbes, may be transferred between environments whose characteristics may be quite different. The transferred microbes may not survive in their new environment, but their DNA will be deposited. In this study, we compare two environmental sequencing projects to find molecular evidence of transfer of microbes over vast geographical distances. METHODOLOGY: By studying synonymous nucleotide composition, oligomer frequency and orthology between predicted genes in metagenomics data from two environments, terrestrial and aquatic, and by correlating with phylogenetic mappings, we find that both environments are likely to contain trace amounts of microbes which have been far removed from their original habitat. We also suggest a bias in direction from soil to sea, which is consistent with the cycles of planetary wind and water. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support the Baas-Becking hypothesis formulated in 1934, which states that due to dispersion and population sizes, microbes are likely to be found in widely disparate environments. Furthermore, the availability of genetic material from distant environments is a possible font of novel gene functions for lateral gene transfer.
Keywords:Ecology, Ecosystem, Environment, Horizontal Gene Transfer, Bacterial Genes, Phylogeny, Water Microbiology
Source:PLoS ONE
ISSN:1932-6203
Publisher:Public Library of Science
Volume:3
Number:7
Page Range:e2607
Date:9 July 2008
Official Publication:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0002607
PubMed:View item in PubMed

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