Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 336, Issue 6077, Pages 48-51Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.1218198
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Funding
- NSF [DEB-0918333, 0821391]
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- Department of Energy Genomes
- Moore Foundation
- Broad Institute
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Harvard MIDAS Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics
- Merck-MIT
- Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research
- Rosztoczy Foundation
- Division Of Environmental Biology
- Direct For Biological Sciences [918333] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Ocean Sciences
- Directorate For Geosciences [0911031] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Genetic exchange is common among bacteria, but its effect on population diversity during ecological differentiation remains controversial. A fundamental question is whether advantageous mutations lead to selection of clonal genomes or, as in sexual eukaryotes, sweep through populations on their own. Here, we show that in two recently diverged populations of ocean bacteria, ecological differentiation has occurred akin to a sexual mechanism: A few genome regions have swept through subpopulations in a habitat-specific manner, accompanied by gradual separation of gene pools as evidenced by increased habitat specificity of the most recent recombinations. These findings reconcile previous, seemingly contradictory empirical observations of the genetic structure of bacterial populations and point to a more unified process of differentiation in bacteria and sexual eukaryotes than previously thought.
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