Beyond the pan-genome: current perspectives on the functional and practical outcomes of the distributed genome hypothesis.

Beyond the pan-genome: current perspectives on the functional and practical outcomes of the distributed genome hypothesis. Biochem Soc Trans. 2020 Nov 27;: Authors: Hammond JA, Gordon EA, Socarras KM, Chang Mell J, Ehrlich GD Abstract The principle of monoclonality with regard to bacterial infections was considered immutable prior to 30 years ago. This view, espoused by Koch for acute infections, has proven inadequate regarding chronic infections as persistence requires multiple forms of heterogeneity among the bacterial population. This understanding of bacterial plurality emerged from a synthesis of what-were-then novel technologies in molecular biology and imaging science. These technologies demonstrated that bacteria have complex life cycles, polymicrobial ecologies, and evolve in situ via the horizontal exchange of genic characters. Thus, there is an ongoing generation of diversity during infection that results in far more highly complex microbial communities than previously envisioned. This perspective is based on the fundamental tenet that the bacteria within an infecting population display genotypic diversity, including gene possession differences, which result from horizontal gene transfer mechanisms including transformation, conjugation, and transduction. This understanding is embodied in the concepts of the supragenome/pan-genome and the distributed genome hypothesis (DGH). These paradigms have fostered multiple researches...
Source: Biochemical Society Transactions - Category: Biochemistry Authors: Tags: Biochem Soc Trans Source Type: research