Gene exchange networks define species-like units in marine prokaryotes

摘要: SUMMARY Although horizontal gene transfer is recognized as a major evolutionary process in Bacteria and Archaea, its general patterns remain elusive, due to difficulties tracking genes at relevant resolution scale within complex microbiomes. To circumvent these challenges, we analyzed randomized sample of >12,000 genomes individual cells Archaea the tropical subtropical ocean - well-mixed, global environment. We found that marine microorganisms form exchange networks (GENs) which transfers both flexible core are frequent, including rRNA operon commonly used conservative taxonomic marker. The data revealed efficient among with