A near-deterministic mutational hotspot in Pseudomonas fluorescens is constructed by multiple interacting genomic features.

ABSTRACT: Mutation - whilst stochastic - is frequently biased toward certain loci. When combined with selection this results in highly repeatable and predictable evolutionary outcomes. Immotile variants of the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens (SBW25) possess a 'mutational hotspot' that facilitates repeated occurrences of an identical de novo single nucleotide polymorphism when re-evolving motility, where ≥95% independent lines fix the mutation ntrB A289C. Identifying hotspots of similar potency in other genes and genomic backgrounds would prove valuable for predictive evolutionary models, but to do so we must understand the genomic features that enable such a hotspot to form. Here we reveal that genomic location, local nucleotide sequence, gene strandedness and presence of mismatch repair proteins

SUBMITTER: Shepherd MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9234803 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature