Quasi-sexual gene transfer drives genetic diversity of hot spring bacteria
Friday, May 29, 2015 - 09:30
in Biology & Nature
New work from a multidisciplinary team of scientists used massive DNA sequencing of bacterial populations that grow in the hot springs in Yellowstone National Park to determine their genetic diversity and explore the underlying evolutionary dynamics. They found an unexpectedly high degree of sharing and exchange of genetic material between the tiny, green, photosynthetic cyanobacteria Synechococcus, which are abundant in these scalding, inhospitable environments.