Decoupling of genome size and sequence divergence in a symbiotic bacterium.
In contrast to genome size variation in most bacterial taxa, the small genome size of Buchnera sp. was shown to be highly conserved across genetically diverse isolates (630 to 643 kb). This exceptional size conservation may reflect the inability of this obligate mutualist to acquire foreign DNA and reduced selection for genetic novelty within a static intracellular environment.
Wernegreen
J J
JJ
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA. jwernegreen@mbl.edu
Ochman
H
H
Jones
I B
IB
Moran
N A
NA
D000818:Animals; D001042:Aphids / Q000382:microbiology*; D020635:Buchnera / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal; D017421:Sequence Analysis; D013559:Symbiosis
D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal