title: A comparison of homologous recombination rates in bacteria and archaea.
abstract: It is a standard practice to test for the signature of homologous recombination in studies examining the genetic diversity of bacterial populations. Although it has emerged that homologous recombination rates can vary widely between species, comparing the results from different studies is made difficult by the diversity of estimation methods used. Here, Multi Locus Sequence Typing (MLST) datasets from a wide variety of bacteria and archaea are analyzed using the ClonalFrame method. This enables a direct comparison between species and allows for a first exploration of the question whether phylogeny or ecology is the primary determinant of homologous recombination rate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. michiel.vos@zoo.ox.ac.uk
authors.forename: Michiel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vos
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Didelot
mesh_terms: D001105:Archaea / Q000502:physiology*; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D019641:DNA, Archaeal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D019641:DNA, Archaeal; D004269:DNA, Bacterial