title: The effect of DNA sequence divergence on sexual isolation in Bacillus.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut 06459-0170.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: F M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Cohan
mesh_terms: D001407:Bacillus / Q000235:genetics; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000235:genetics*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012319:RNA Polymerase II / Q000235:genetics; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013045:Species Specificity; D014169:Transformation, Bacterial
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012319:RNA Polymerase II