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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Weird bits of DNA help microbes to rule the seas

Photosynthetic bacteria that swarm the oceans could acquire beneficial genetic material using ‘tycheposons’.
Electron microscopy image of Prochlorococcus MED4 cells with a green overlay

Photosynthesizing marine bacteria of the Prochlorococcus genus (artificially coloured) rely on unusual interchangeable genetic elements to diversify. Credit: Luke Thompson/Chisholm Lab, Nikki Watson/Whitehead, MIT

A newfound group of ‘jumping genes’ could drive the evolution of the world’s most abundant photosynthetic organisms, the tiny marine bacterium Prochlorococcus1.

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Nature 613, 218 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00001-8

References

  1. Hackl, T. et al. Cell https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2022.12.006 (2023).

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