3 research outputs found
An Analytically Solvable Model for Rapid Evolution of Modular Structure
Biological systems often display modularity, in the sense that they can be
decomposed into nearly independent subsystems. Recent studies have suggested
that modular structure can spontaneously emerge if goals (environments) change
over time, such that each new goal shares the same set of sub-problems with
previous goals. Such modularly varying goals can also dramatically speed up
evolution, relative to evolution under a constant goal. These studies were based
on simulations of model systems, such as logic circuits and RNA structure, which
are generally not easy to treat analytically. We present, here, a simple model
for evolution under modularly varying goals that can be solved analytically.
This model helps to understand some of the fundamental mechanisms that lead to
rapid emergence of modular structure under modularly varying goals. In
particular, the model suggests a mechanism for the dramatic speedup in evolution
observed under such temporally varying goals
Association between translation efficiency and horizontal gene transfer within microbial communities
Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a major force in microbial evolution. Previous studies have suggested that a variety of factors, including restricted recombination and toxicity of foreign gene products, may act as barriers to the successful integration of horizontally transferred genes. This study identifies an additional central barrier to HGT—the lack of co-adaptation between the codon usage of the transferred gene and the tRNA pool of the recipient organism. Analyzing the genomic sequences of more than 190 microorganisms and the HGT events that have occurred between them, we show that the number of genes that were horizontally transferred between organisms is positively correlated with the similarity between their tRNA pools. Those genes that are better adapted to the tRNA pools of the target genomes tend to undergo more frequent HGT. At the community (or environment) level, organisms that share a common ecological niche tend to have similar tRNA pools. These results remain significant after controlling for diverse ecological and evolutionary parameters. Our analysis demonstrates that there are bi-directional associations between the similarity in the tRNA pools of organisms and the number of HGT events occurring between them. Similar tRNA pools between a donor and a host tend to increase the probability that a horizontally acquired gene will become fixed in its new genome. Our results also suggest that frequent HGT may be a homogenizing force that increases the similarity in the tRNA pools of organisms within the same community