Population genomics of Vibrionaceae isolated from an endangered oasis reveals local adaptation after an environmental perturbation

Abstract

BackgroundIn bacteria, pan-genomes are the result of the evolutionary “tug of war” between selection and horizontal gene transfer (HGT). High rates of HGT increase the genetic pool and the effective population size, resulting in open pan-genomes. In contrast, selective pressures can lead to local adaptation by purging the variation introduced by HGT, resulting in closed pan-genomes and clonal lineages. In this study, we explored both hypotheses elucidating the pan-genome of Vibrionaceae isolates after a perturbation event in the endangered oasis of Cuatro Ciénegas Basin (CCB), Mexico, and looking for signals of adaptation to the environments in their genomes.ResultsWe obtained 42 genomes of Vibrionaceae distributed in six lineages, two of them did not showed any close reference strain in databases. Five of the lineages showed closed pan-genomes and were associated to either water or sediment environment; their high effective population size (Ne) estimates suggest that these lineages are not from a recent origin. The only clade with an open pan-genome was found in both environments and was formed by ten genetic groups with low Ne, suggesting a recent origin. The recombination and mutation estimators (r/m) ranged from 0.0052 to 2.7249, which are similar to oceanic Vibrionaceae estimations; however, we identified 367 gene families with signals of positive selection, most of them found in the core genome; suggesting that despite recombination, natural selection moves the Vibrionaceae CCB lineages to local adaptation purging the genomes and keeping closed pan-genome patterns. Moreover, we identify 598 SNPs associated with an unstructured environment; some of the genes under this SNPs were related to sodium transport.ConclusionsDifferent lines of evidence suggest that the sampled Vibrionaceae, are part of the rare biosphere usually living under famine conditions. Two of these lineages were reported by the first time. Most Vibrionaceae lineages of CCB are adapted to their microhabitats rather than to the sampled environments. This pattern of adaptation agrees with the association of closed pan-genomes and local adaptation.