Hidden diversity in honey bee gut symbionts detected by single-cell genomics.

Details

Ressource 1Download: BIB_F31F34036883.P001.pdf (2513.66 [Ko])
State: Public
Version: author
Serval ID
serval:BIB_F31F34036883
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Hidden diversity in honey bee gut symbionts detected by single-cell genomics.
Journal
PLoS Genetics
Author(s)
Engel P., Stepanauskas R., Moran N.A.
ISSN
1553-7404 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
1553-7390
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2014
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
10
Number
9
Pages
e1004596
Language
english
Abstract
Microbial communities in animal guts are composed of diverse, specialized bacterial species, but little is known about how gut bacteria diversify to produce genetically and ecologically distinct entities. The gut microbiota of the honey bee, Apis mellifera, presents a useful model, because it consists of a small number of characteristic bacterial species, each showing signs of diversification. Here, we used single-cell genomics to study the variation within two species of the bee gut microbiota: Gilliamella apicola and Snodgrassella alvi. For both species, our analyses revealed extensive variation in intraspecific divergence of protein-coding genes but uniformly high levels of 16S rRNA similarity. In both species, the divergence of 16S rRNA loci appears to have been curtailed by frequent recombination within populations, while other genomic regions have continuously diverged. Furthermore, gene repertoires differ markedly among strains in both species, implying distinct metabolic capabilities. Our results show that, despite minimal divergence at 16S rRNA genes, in situ diversification occurs within gut communities and generates bacterial lineages with distinct ecological niches. Therefore, important dimensions of microbial diversity are not evident from analyses of 16S rRNA, and single cell genomics has potential to elucidate processes of bacterial diversification.
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
02/09/2014 9:59
Last modification date
20/08/2019 16:20
Usage data