Geographic barriers isolate endemic populations of hyperthermophilic archaea.
Barriers to dispersal between populations allow them to diverge through local adaptation or random genetic drift. High-resolution multilocus sequence analysis revealed that, on a global scale, populations of hyperthermophilic microorganisms are isolated from one another by geographic barriers and have diverged over the course of their recent evolutionary history. The identification of a biogeographic pattern in the archaeon Sulfolobus challenges the current model of microbial biodiversity in which unrestricted dispersal constrains the development of global species richness.
Whitaker
Rachel J
RJ
Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, 111 Koshland Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. rwhitaker@nature.berkeley.edu
Grogan
Dennis W
DW
Taylor
John W
JW
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005075:Biological Evolution; D017753:Ecosystem; D019766:Genes, Archaeal; D020459:Genes, rRNA; D040961:Genetic Drift; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005838:Genotype; D005843:Geography; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000382:microbiology*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D016944:Sulfolobus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D013696:Temperature; D014871:Water Microbiology