English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Although microorganisms make up the preponderance of the biodiversity on Earth, the ecological and evolutionary factors that structure microbial populations are not well understood. We investigated the genetic structure of a thermoacidophilic crenarchaeal species, Sulfolobus islandicus, using multilocus sequence analysis of six variable protein-coding loci on a set of 60 isolates from the Mutnovsky region of Kamchatka, Russia. We demonstrate significant incongruence among gene genealogies and a lack of association between alleles consistent with recombination rates greater than the rate of mutation. The observation of high relative rates of recombination suggests that the structure of this natural population does not fit the periodic selection model often used to describe populations of asexual microorganisms. We propose instead that frequent recombination among closely related individuals prevents periodic selection from purging diversity and provides a fundamental cohesive mechanism within this and perhaps other archaeal species.

Recombination Shapes the Natural Population Structure of the Hyperthermophilic Archaeon Sulfolobus islandicus