Ecological modelling. 2012; 224(1): 124-129 [full text]

Computer modeling of genome complexity variation trends in prokaryotic communities under varying habitat conditions

Lashin S.A., Matushkin Yu.G., Suslov V.V., Kolchanov N.A.

Department of Systems Biology, Institute of Cytology and Genetics SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia; Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk, Russia, e-mail: lashin[_at_]bionet.nsc.ru

Abstract

There are two types of organisms’ grouping in nature: mono-species populations and multi-species

communities. Here at during the process of evolution the adaptability of a trait is to be tested both

at population and ecocenotic levels. Size of a genome is one of the major adaptive traits, which widely

varies in eukaryotic species. By contrast, prokaryotes with their small genomes are considered to have

genome reduction evolutionary trend. Domination of this trend is mostly founded on population-level

models. In this paper we in silico study interactions of ecocenotic and population levels. The trend of

genome and metabolism reduction in prokaryotic communities was shown to be major only in comfortable

environmental conditions. In subcomfortable conditions, genome and metabolism reduction

leads to community simplification (in extreme case to community death). Pessimum conditions promote

metabolism integration of a community and induce reciprocal genes acquiring.

Keywords: Evolution modeling, gene loss, horizontal gene transfer, genome amplification, genome reduction.

Bibliography link: Lashin S.A., Matushkin Yu.G., Suslov V.V., Kolchanov N.A. Computer modeling of genome complexity variation trends in prokaryotic communities under varying habitat conditions // Ecological Modelling, 2012, Vol. 224, No.1, pp. 124-129, doi: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2011.11.004