Strain diversity and evolution in endosymbionts of Bathymodiolus mussels
Date Issued
2019-03-26
Author(s)
Supervisors
Referees
Abstract
Accumulating evidence shows that closely related strains of the same bacterial species can differ strongly in their functions. However, in intimate symbioses between bacteria and animal hosts, the impact of strain-level diversity is largely unexplored. Evolutionary theory predicts that mutualistic symbioses, should be destabilized by genetic diversity among closely-related symbiont strains. Yet, to date it is unknown if this prediction holds true in environmental symbioses. In this thesis I therefore aimed to deepen our current understanding of mutualistic symbioses, and the potential role that symbiont strain diversity and evolution may play in it. To do so, I performed high-resolution genomic analyses of the endosymbionts of Bathymodiolus mussels. My findings challenge and extent current evolutionary theories and point out the value of in-depth analysis of environmental bacterial communities to deepen our understanding of evolution, microbial interaction and symbiosis.
Subjects
symbiosis
;
evolution
;
metagenomics
;
microdiversity
;
Bathymodiolus
;
bacteria
Institution
Type
Dissertation
Secondary publication
No
Language
English
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Loading...
Name
00107522-1.pdf
Size
15.34 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum
(MD5):834f18ea8d873a0a88ed604e0553470e