Month: September 2022

UNIQUE NOVELTY. “Prokaryotes do not generate genetic variability through transmission genetics, but they acquire genetic novelty through acquisition genetics—the acquisition of genes directly from the environment via mechanisms not involving reproduction. Routine acquisition genetics, uncoupled from reproduction, simply does not occur among multi-cellular eukaryotes.” https://lnkd.in/ewnQ9Vg View in LinkedIn

ENDLESS OPPORTUNITY. “Prokaryotic acquisition genetics provides virtually unlimited opportunities for genetic variance.” https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

PROFOUND IMPLICATIONS. “One study carried out a full genomic assessment of several hundred individual marine bacteria ( Vibrio splendidus ) collected at the same location and found essentially no two alike. The potential implications of widespread acquisition genetics via horizontal gene transfer for an understanding of evolution are profound.” https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

IMPACT OF STRESS. “Furthermore, we know that the ability to acquire exogenous DNA (known as competence) can be adjusted by bacteria in response to environmental conditions, with competence generally increasing under conditions of stress.” https://lnkd.in/ewnQ9Vg View in LinkedIn

PARALLEL IN EUKARYOTES. “The similarity to the pattern seen in some multi-cellular eukaryotes, such as aphids, that alternate between parthenogenetic and sexual reproduction is suggestive: both reproduce asexually in benign conditions, switching to a genetic-diversity-generating mechanism when conditions are harsh.” https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

IMPLICATIONS. “The implication of widespread horizontal gene transfer-induced genetic diversity is revelatory on two levels: (1) it disproves the thesis that, compared with multi-cellular eukaryotes, prokaryotic populations of invariant clones are evolutionary sluggards; and (2) it rules out the possibility of a single, true, whole-genome phylogenetic tree for any prokaryote or its pan-genome.” https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

UNIQUE GENE HISTORIES. “Rather, a prokaryote’s core-genome may have one tree, while each and every component of its flex-genome will have an independent tree. Some horizontal gene transfer occurs even for genes in the core-genome, meaning that in principle every gene in a prokaryotic genome could have its own evolutionary history.” https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

SPECIES CONCEPT. “The notion of species as it is applied to prokaryotes is substantially different from the species concept as applied to multi-cellular eukaryotes, probably to the point of being incommensurate.” https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

THE MEASURE OF BIODIVERSITY. “Incommensurate species concepts do matter, because (a) biodiversity is a field that depends on the ability to compare and integrate biodiversity data across myriad systems—indeed, across the entire biosphere, and (b) species are the currency with which biodiversity is measured.” https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

CLASSICAL SPECIES CONCEPT. “In classical biology, individuals are seen to co-exist in local groups called populations and the set of all populations containing members capable of interbreeding is defined as a species by Mayr’s biological species concept (BSC).” https://lnkd.in/ewnQ9Vg View in LinkedIn