Adaptiveradiations in natural populations of prokaryotes: Innovation is key

Michiel Vos, Daniel Padfield, Christopher Quince, Rutger Vos

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)
3 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Pr okar yote di v ersity makes up most of the tr ee of life and is crucial to the functioning of the biospher e and human health. Howev er, the patterns and mechanisms of pr okar yote di v ersification hav e r ecei v ed r elati v el y little attention compar ed to animals and plants. Adapti v e radiation, the rapid di v ersification of an ancestor species into multiple ecologically divergent species, is a fundamental process by which macrobiological diversity is gener ated. Here , w e discuss whether ecological opportunity could lead to similar bursts of di v ersification in bacteria. We explore how adapti v e radiations in pr okar y otes can be kic kstarted by horizontally acquired key inno vations allo wing linea ges to inv ade new niche space that subsequentl y is partitioned among di v ersifying specialist descendants. We discuss how nov el adapti v e zones are colonized and exploited after the evolution of a key innovation and whether certain types of ar e mor e pr one to adapti v e r adiation. Radiation into nic he specialists does not necessarily lead to speciation in bacteria when barriers to recombination are absent. We propose that in this scenario, niche-specific genes could accumulate within a single lineage, leading to the evolution of an open pangenome.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberfiad154
JournalFEMS Microbiology Ecology
Volume99
Issue number12
Early online date23 Nov 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2023

Keywords

  • adaptive radiations
  • diversification
  • key innov ations
  • macr oev olution
  • pangenomes
  • speciation

Cite this