Molecular Mechanisms of Microbial Evolution

Description

One of the most profound paradigms that have transformed our understanding about life over the last decades was the acknowledgement that microorganisms play a central role in shaping the past and present environments on Earth and the nature of all life forms. Each organism is the product of its history and all extant life traces back to common ancestors, which were microorganisms. Nowadays, microorganisms represent the vast majority of biodiversity on Earth and have survived nearly 4 billion years of evolutionary change. Microbial evolution occurred and continues to take place in a great variety of environmental conditions. However, we still know little about the processes of evolution as applied to microorganisms and microbial populations. In addition, the molecular mechanisms by which microorganisms communicate/interact with each other and with multicellular organisms remains poorly understood. Such patterns of microbe-host interaction are essential to understand the evolution of microbial symbiosis and pathogenesis.Recent advances in DNA sequencing, high-throughput technologies, and genetic manipulation systems have enabled studies that directly characterize the molecular and genomic bases of evolution, producing data that are making us change our view of the microbial world. The notion that mutations in the coding regions of genomes are, in combination with selective forces, the main contributors to biodiversity needs to be re-examined as evidence accumulates, indicating that many non-coding regions that contain regulatory signals show a high rate of variation even among closely related organisms. Comparative analyses of an increasing number of closely related microbial genomes have yielded exciting insight into the sources of microbial genome variability with respect to gene content, gene order and evolution of genes with unknown functions. Furthermore, laboratory studies (i.e. experimental microbial evolution) are providing fundamental biological insight through direct observation of the evolution process. They not only enable testing evolutionary theory and principles, but also have applications to metabolic engineering and human health. Overall, these studies ranging from viruses to Bacteria to microbial Eukaryotes are illuminating the mechanisms of evolution at a resolution that Darwin, Delbruck and Dobzhansky could barely have imagined. Consequently, it is timely to review and highlight the progress so far as well as discuss what remains unknown and requires future research. This book explores the current state of knowledge on the molecular mechanisms of microbial evolution with a collection of papers written by authors who are leading experts in the field. Front Matter ....Pages i-xiii The Relevance and Challenges of Studying Microbial Evolution (Pabulo Henrique Rampelotto)....Pages 1-11 Mayr Versus Woese: Akaryotes and Eukaryotes (Charles G. Kurland, Ajith Harish)....Pages 13-54 The Tree of Life (Morgan Gaia, Violette Da Cunha, Patrick Forterre)....Pages 55-99 Multiple Clocks in the Evolution of Living Organisms (Antoine Danchin)....Pages 101-118 Natural Strategies of Spontaneous Genetic Variation: The Driving Force of Biological Evolution (Werner Arber)....Pages 119-123 The Evolution of Gene Regulatory Mechanisms in Bacteria (Charles J. Dorman, Niamh Ní Bhriain, Matthew J. Dorman)....Pages 125-152 Conservation of Two-Component Signal Transduction Systems in E. coli, Salmonella, and Across 100,000 Bacteria of Various Bacterial Phyla (Trudy M. Wassenaar, Visanu Wanchai, Duah Alkam, Intawat Nookaew, David W. Ussery)....Pages 153-174 Effects of Spatial Structure and Reduced Growth Rates on Evolution in Bacterial Populations (Michael T. France, Ben J. Ridenhour, Larry J. Forney)....Pages 175-197 Integrons as Adaptive Devices (José Antonio Escudero, Céline Loot, Didier Mazel)....Pages 199-239 Experimental Evolution to Explore Adaptation of Terrestrial Bacteria to the Martian Environment (Wayne L. Nicholson)....Pages 241-265 The Role of Phage in the Adaptation of Bacteria to New Environmental Niches (Veronica Casas, Stanley Maloy)....Pages 267-306 Clonally Evolving Pathogenic Bacteria (Sofia Hauck, Martin C. J. Maiden)....Pages 307-325 A Case for the Evolution from Commensalism to Pathogenicity and Possibly Back Again: Lessons Learned from the Human-Adapted Neisseria Species (Lauren L. Priniski, H. Steven Seifert)....Pages 327-370 Sulfur Assimilation and Trafficking in Methanogens (John J. Perona, Benjamin Julius Rauch, Camden M. Driggers)....Pages 371-408 Molecular Mechanisms of Fungal Adaptive Evolution (Yongjie Zhang, Jianping Xu)....Pages 409-435 Back Matter ....Pages 437-448