title: Microbial minimalism: genome reduction in bacterial pathogens.
abstract: When bacterial lineages make the transition from free-living or facultatively parasitic life cycles to permanent associations with hosts, they undergo a major loss of genes and DNA. Complete genome sequences are providing an understanding of how extreme genome reduction affects evolutionary directions and metabolic capabilities of obligate pathogens and symbionts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. nmoran@u.arizona.edu
authors.forename: Nancy A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Moran
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D001482:Base Composition; D005075:Biological Evolution; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D009154:Mutation; D016366:Open Reading Frames