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Tasa neta de transferencia lateral de genes en el procarioplancton marino

Ramunas Stepanauskas¹, Julia M Brown¹, Shayesteh Arasti²

¹Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences; East Boothbay, ME 04544, United States.

The ISME journal

|September 5, 2025

Resumen

Las células microbianas adquieren ~ 13% de sus genes a través de la transferencia génica lateral (LGT) anualmente. Este flujo genético significativo alimenta la adaptación del procarioplancton, lo que tiene un impacto en la evolución microbiana y los ecosistemas.

Área de la Ciencia:

La evolución de los microbios
La genómica
Biología marina

Sus antecedentes:

La transferencia génica lateral (LGT) es un motor clave de la evolución en las bacterias y las arqueas.
La cuantificación de LGT en poblaciones microbianas naturales es un desafío debido a los vastos pangénomos y los genes raros.

Objetivo del estudio:

Para estimar las tasas de LGT en el océano epipelágico.
Desarrollar un enfoque computacional no filogenético para la cuantificación de LGT.

Principales métodos:

Utilizó una colección global de genomas amplificados individuales del océano.
Se empleó un método computacional para comparar el intercambio de genes con un modelo libre de LGT.

Principales resultados:

Se estima que una línea celular promedio adquiere y retiene lateralmente ~ 13% de sus genes por millón de años.
Se calculó una tasa neta de LGT de ~ 250 genes por litro de agua de mar por día.
La LGT demostrada involucra genes centrales y flexibles, que se extienden más allá de los límites de las especies.

Conclusiones:

La LGT es un proceso generalizado en las comunidades microbianas marinas.
El intercambio genético extenso proporciona al procarioplancton recursos para adaptarse a los cambios ambientales.
Este estudio establece un marco cuantitativo para el análisis de LGT en entornos naturales.

Palabras clave:

Las bacterias Epipelágico Transferencia lateral de genes La marina Evolución de los microbios El océano El plancton Genómica de una sola célula

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