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dc.contributor.authorAmbur, Ole Herman
dc.contributor.authorEngelstädter, Jan
dc.contributor.authorJohnsen, Pål Jarle
dc.contributor.authorMiller, Eric L.
dc.contributor.authorRozen, Daniel E.
dc.date.accessioned2017-03-08T16:11:06Z
dc.date.available2017-03-08T16:11:06Z
dc.date.issued2016-09-12
dc.description.abstractMany bacteria are highly sexual, but the reasons for their promiscuity remain obscure. Did bacterial sex evolve to maximize diversity and facilitate adaptation in a changing world, or does it instead help to retain the bacterial functions that work right now? In other words, is bacterial sex innovative or conservative? Our aim in this review is to integrate experimental, bioinformatic and theoretical studies to critically evaluate these alternatives, with a main focus on natural genetic transformation, the bacterial equivalent of eukaryotic sexual reproduction. First, we provide a general overview of several hypotheses that have been put forward to explain the evolution of transformation. Next, we synthesize a large body of evidence highlighting the numerous passive and active barriers to transformation that have evolved to protect bacteria from foreign DNA, thereby increasing the likelihood that transformation takes place among clonemates. Our critical review of the existing literature provides support for the view that bacterial transformation is maintained as a means of genomic conservation that provides direct benefits to both individual bacterial cells and to transformable bacterial populations. We examine the generality of this view across bacteria and contrast this explanation with the different evolutionary roles proposed to maintain sex in eukaryotes. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Weird sex: the underappreciated diversity of sexual reproduction’.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipSupport for this work was provided by the NWO (Dutch Science Foundation) and the BBSRC (UK) to D.E.R. and E.L.M.; by the Australian Research Council through a Future Fellowship (FT140100907) to J.E. and by grants from the Norwegian Research Council (project number 204263) and the Northern Norway Regional Health Authority to P.J.J.en_US
dc.descriptionPublished version. Source at <a href=http://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0528>http://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0528</a>. License <a href=https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/>CC BY 4.0</a>.en_US
dc.identifier.citationAmbur OH, Engelstädter J, Johnsen Pj, Miller EL, Rozen. Steady at the wheel: Conservative sex and the benefits of bacterial transformation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences. 2016;371:20150528(1706)en_US
dc.identifier.cristinIDFRIDAID 1394486
dc.identifier.doi10.1098/rstb.2015.0528
dc.identifier.issn0962-8436
dc.identifier.issn1471-2970
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10037/10493
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherThe Royal Societyen_US
dc.relation.journalPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences
dc.relation.projectIDinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/RCN//204263/Norway///en_US
dc.rights.accessRightsopenAccessen_US
dc.subjecttransformationen_US
dc.subjectbacterial sexen_US
dc.subjectnatural competenceen_US
dc.subjectVDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Basic biosciences: 470en_US
dc.titleSteady at the wheel: Conservative sex and the benefits of bacterial transformationen_US
dc.typeJournal articleen_US
dc.typeTidsskriftartikkelen_US
dc.typePeer revieweden_US


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