The origin of bacterial species. Genetic recombination and factors limiting it between bacterial populations

GENETIC EXCHANGE BETWEEN BACILLUS SUBTILIS AND BACILLUS LICHENIFORMIS: VARIABLE HYBRID STABILITY AND THE NATURE OF BACTERIAL SPECIES

Experiments employing both broth and soil cultures demonstrated the capacity for bidirectional genetic exchange between the eubacterial species Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus licheniformis. The process was studied using standard laboratory strains and wild isolates of these species. The genetic exchange in soil occurs spontaneously. The interspecific recombination involved markers for antibiotic resistance and for the use of specific carbon sources (API characters). Hybrids frequently had unstable phenotypes, i.e., lacked a consistent expression of foreign genes over repeated transfer and growth. This instability often involved a "correction" back toward the phenotype of one or the other of the parental species for many differentiating characters; the final phenotype was always that of the more probable or actually known recipient species. This "correction" process is reminiscent of phenomena associated with the instability of artificial fusion protoplasts or noncomplementing diploids of B. subtilis, as well as the merodiploids formed by intergeneric crosses with enteric bacteria. The hybrids observed here must also be diploid, in some manner, because they sequentially express traits of both parental species at rates well above the frequency of mutation. Among the unstable changes in hybrids of the wild strains there was a 3:1 bias in favor of "correction." The dynamics of the hybridization process in soil are described. It appears that the hybrids are formed most rapidly following outgrowth from spores and during the early growth of parental vegetative cell populations. Later on, the hybrids are much less frequent in the soil cultures, suggesting that they are competitively inferior to the parental species. It is argued that the capacity for recombination found between B. subtilis and B. licheniformis could locally erase their distinctness, even though they possess only about 15% DNA sequence homology. Yet they remain distinct in the wild. The methods and results of these experiments prepare the way for detailed studies of the nature of species and species boundaries throughout the genus Bacillus.

GENETIC HOMOLOGY BETWEEN ESCHERICHIA COLI K-12 AND SALMONELLA

Falkow, Stanley (Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, D.C.), Robert Rownd, and L. S. Baron. Genetic homology between Escherichia coli K-12 and Salmonella. J. Bacteriol. 84:1303-1312. 1962.-Recombinant analysis and interrupted mating procedures, in conjunction with molecular hybridization experiments, demonstrated that the genetic homology between Escherichia and Salmonella is incomplete. The most likely explanation of this incomplete homology is imperfect pairing between the deoxyribonucleic acid molecules of the two species. Despite the inhomologies, there is ample evidence that the order and distance of the genetic characters on the Salmonella chromosome are identical to those of Escherichia.

What are bacterial species?

Bacterial systematics has not yet reached a consensus for defining the fundamental unit of biological diversity, the species. The past half-century of bacterial systematics has been characterized by improvements in methods for demarcating species as phenotypic and genetic clusters, but species demarcation has not been guided by a theory-based concept of species. Eukaryote systematists have developed a universal concept of species: A species is a group of organisms whose divergence is capped by a force of cohesion; divergence between different species is irreversible; and different species are ecologically distinct. In the case of bacteria, these universal properties are held not by the named species of systematics but by ecotypes. These are populations of organisms occupying the same ecological niche, whose divergence is purged recurrently by natural selection. These ecotypes can be discovered by several universal sequence-based approaches. These molecular methods suggest that a typical named species contains many ecotypes, each with the universal attributes of species. A named bacterial species is thus more like a genus than a species.

GENETIC LINKAGE OF MUTATIONAL SITES AFFECTING SIMILAR CHARACTERS IN PNEUMOCOCCUS AND STREPTOCOCCUS

Ravin, Arnold W. (University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.), and Joscelyn D. H. De Sa. Genetic linkage of mutational sites affecting similar characters in pneumococcus and streptococcus. J. Bacteriol. 87:86-96. 1964.-By interspecific transformation, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) determinants conferring resistance to high levels of streptomycin in pneumococcus were found to be allelic with DNA determinants conferring low levels of streptomycin resistance in the Challis and NBSI strains of streptococcus. The reciprocal transformation (low resistance pneumococcus x high resistance streptococcus) led to the same conclusion. In addition, determinants controlling resistance to erythromycin in pneumococcus and the Challis strain of streptococcus were found to become closely linked after interspecific transformation. Modifier genes influencing the phenotype conferred by mutations at the streptomycin-resistance locus differentiate species to a certain extent. The results demonstrate that transformations between pneumococcus and streptococcus are not due to episomes, but involve recombinational events in which genetic material of the host species is replaced by homologous material that performed a similar function in the donor species.

CHARACTERIZATION OF CONJUGATION FACTORS IN ESCHERICHIA COLI CELL WALLS. I. INHIBITION OF RECOMBINATION BY CELL WALLS AND CELL EXTRACTS

Lancaster, John H. (University of Texas, Austin), E. P. Goldschmidt, and Orville Wyss. Characterization of conjugation factors in Escherichia coli cell walls. I. Inhibition of recombination by cell walls and cell extracts. J. Bacteriol. 89:1478-1481. 1965.-An assay procedure was devised to determine quantitatively the interference with conjugation of cell-wall fragments from both male and female strains of Escherichia coli. The fertility of the donor is reflected in the assay. Phenol extracts from the cell walls were active, and chemical analysis suggested that the activity resided in the lipopolysaccharide fraction.

CHARACTERIZATION OF AN HFR STRAIN OF SHIGELLA FLEXNERI

Schneider, Herman (Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, D.C.), and Stanley Falkow. Characterization of an Hfr strain of Shigella flexneri. J. Bacteriol. 88:682-689. 1964.-A Hfr Shigella flexneri, strain 69, was obtained by terminal marker selection in a cross between Hfr Escherichia coli and S. flexneri. The chromosome of this Hfr Shigella bears gross homology to the E. coli chromosome: it can conjugate with both Shigella and E. coli; its order of gene transmission is the same as E. coli; and interrupted matings show that distance between gene loci is the same as for E. coli. The kinetics of transfer of the pro(+), thr(+) + leu(+), and arg(+) loci by Hfr S. flexneri differ from Hfr E. coli, and may indicate that function of the sex factor, F, derived from E. coli, is modified when integrated into the Shigella chromosome.

Differentiation of the ribosomal protein compositions in the genus Escherichia and its related bacteria

Compositions of the ribosomal proteins of 60 bacterial strains belonging to the genus Escherichia and its related genera were examined by use of a column of carboxymethyl cellulose. The ribosomes were classified into seven groups and were further differentiated into several types (subgroups) according to their protein compositions. It was shown that ribosomal protein composition is a useful characteristic for studies of bacterial taxonomy.