Chance and necessity in the genome evolution of endosymbiotic bacteria of insects.

ABSTRACT: An open question in evolutionary biology is how does the selection-drift balance determine the fates of biological interactions. We searched for signatures of selection and drift in genomes of five endosymbiotic bacterial groups known to evolve under strong genetic drift. Although most genes in endosymbiotic bacteria showed evidence of relaxed purifying selection, many genes in these bacteria exhibited stronger selective constraints than their orthologs in free-living bacterial relatives. Remarkably, most of these highly constrained genes had no role in the host-symbiont interactions but were involved in either buffering the deleterious consequences of drift or other host-unrelated functions, suggesting that they have either acquired new roles or their role became more central in endosymbi

SUBMITTER: Sabater-Munoz B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5437351 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature