Título : Extensive paralogism in the environmental
pangenome: a key factor in the ecological
success of natural SAR11 populations |
Autor : Molina Pardines, Carmen Haro Moreno, Jose M. Rodriguez Valera, Francisco López Pérez, Mario |
Editor : BMC |
Departamento: Departamentos de la UMH::Producción Vegetal y Microbiología |
Fecha de publicación: 2025 |
URI : https://hdl.handle.net/11000/36022 |
Resumen :
Background The oceanic microbiome is dominated by members of the SAR11 clade. Despite their abundance, challenges
in recovering the full genetic diversity of natural populations have hindered our understanding of the eco-evolutionary
mechanisms driving intra-species variation. In this study, we employed a combination of single-amplified
genomes and long-read metagenomics to recover the genomic diversity of natural populations within the SAR11
genomospecies Ia.3/VII, the dominant group in the Mediterranean Sea.
Results The reconstruction of the first complete genome within this genomospecies revealed that the core genome
represents a significant proportion of the genome (~ 81%), with highly divergent areas that allow for greater straindependent
metabolic flexibility. The flexible genome was concentrated in small regions, typically containing a single
gene, and was located in equivalent regions within the genomospecies. Each variable region was associated
with a specific set of genes that, despite exhibiting some divergence, maintained equivalent biological functionality
within the population. The environmental pangenome is large and enriched in genes involved in nutrient transport,
as well as cell wall synthesis and modification, showing an extremely high degree of functional redundancy
in the flexible genome (i.e. paralogisms).
Conclusions This genomic architecture promotes polyclonality, preserving genetic variation within the population.
This, in turn, mitigates intraspecific competition and enables the population to thrive under variable environmental
conditions and selective pressures. Furthermore, this study demonstrates the power of long-read metagenomics
in capturing the full genetic diversity of environmental SAR11 populations, overcoming the limitations of secondgeneration
sequencing technologies in genome assembly.
|
Palabras clave/Materias: SAR11 Pangenome Mediterranean Sea Long-read metagenomics Flexible genome Paralogs Singleamplified genomes |
Área de conocimiento : CDU: Ciencias puras y naturales: Biología: Microbiología |
Tipo de documento : info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
Derechos de acceso: info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional |
DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-025-02037-6 |
Aparece en las colecciones: Artículos Producción vegetal y microbiología
|