How mobile genetic elements persist in spatially structured populations (Bram van Dijk, 210121)
Channel: Modelling in Ecology and Evolution
Date: 2021-02-22

Contributed talk for 08th of January 2021 by Bram van Dijk (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Germany)

Abstract
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Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) and gene loss result in rapid changes in the gene content of bacteria. While HGT aids bacteria to adapt to new environments, it also carries risks such as selfish genetic elements (SGEs). In my talk I will discuss recent modelling work where I study how HGT of slightly beneficial genes impacts growth rates of bacterial populations, and if bacterial collectives can evolve to take up DNA despite the presence of SGEs. I show that a ‘gene-sharing’ community can emerge in spatially structured populations, but that this does not happen in well-mixed cultures. Next, I show how adding harmful SGEs to these spatially structured populations does not result in the loss of gene-sharing. Thus, spatial structure helps to explain the coexistence of harmful SGEs, and bacterial hosts that actively engage in costly HGT. 

In other words, I will (primarily) discuss this article: https://elifesciences.org/articles/56801), maybe with some new exciting results mixed in about the emergence of transposons in spatial models.