The effect of DNA sequence divergence on sexual isolation in Bacillus

We have investigated the relationship between sexual isolation and DNA sequence divergence in the transformation (at locus rpoB) of a naturally competent strain of Bacillus subtilis. Using both genomic DNA and a PCR-amplified segment of gene rpoB as donor, we found that the extent of sexual isolation at locus rpoB was closely predicted, over three orders of magnitude, as a log-linear function of sequence divergence at that locus. Because sexual isolation between a recipient and any potential donor may be determined as a general mathematical function of sequence divergence, transformation is perhaps the only sexual system, in either the prokaryotic or the eukaryotic world, in which sexual isolation can be predicted for a pair of species without having to perform the cross. These observations suggest the possibility of a general approach to the indirect prediction of sexual isolation in bacteria recombining principally by natural transformation.