TY - JOUR
T1 - Kin discrimination promotes horizontal gene transfer between unrelated strains in Bacillus subtilis
AU - Stefanic, Polonca
AU - Belcijan, Katarina
AU - Kraigher, Barbara
AU - Kostanjšek, Rok
AU - Nesme, Joseph
AU - Madsen, Jonas Stenløkke
AU - Kovac, Jasna
AU - Sørensen, Søren Johannes
AU - Vos, Michiel
AU - Mandic-Mulec, Ines
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
PY - 2021/12/1
Y1 - 2021/12/1
N2 - Bacillus subtilis is a soil bacterium that is competent for natural transformation. Genetically distinct B. subtilis swarms form a boundary upon encounter, resulting in killing of one of the strains. This process is mediated by a fast-evolving kin discrimination (KD) system consisting of cellular attack and defence mechanisms. Here, we show that these swarm antagonisms promote transformation-mediated horizontal gene transfer between strains of low relatedness. Gene transfer between interacting non-kin strains is largely unidirectional, from killed cells of the donor strain to surviving cells of the recipient strain. It is associated with activation of a stress response mediated by sigma factor SigW in the donor cells, and induction of competence in the recipient strain. More closely related strains, which in theory would experience more efficient recombination due to increased sequence homology, do not upregulate transformation upon encounter. This result indicates that social interactions can override mechanistic barriers to horizontal gene transfer. We hypothesize that KD-mediated competence in response to the encounter of distinct neighbouring strains could maximize the probability of efficient incorporation of novel alleles and genes that have proved to function in a genomically and ecologically similar context.
AB - Bacillus subtilis is a soil bacterium that is competent for natural transformation. Genetically distinct B. subtilis swarms form a boundary upon encounter, resulting in killing of one of the strains. This process is mediated by a fast-evolving kin discrimination (KD) system consisting of cellular attack and defence mechanisms. Here, we show that these swarm antagonisms promote transformation-mediated horizontal gene transfer between strains of low relatedness. Gene transfer between interacting non-kin strains is largely unidirectional, from killed cells of the donor strain to surviving cells of the recipient strain. It is associated with activation of a stress response mediated by sigma factor SigW in the donor cells, and induction of competence in the recipient strain. More closely related strains, which in theory would experience more efficient recombination due to increased sequence homology, do not upregulate transformation upon encounter. This result indicates that social interactions can override mechanistic barriers to horizontal gene transfer. We hypothesize that KD-mediated competence in response to the encounter of distinct neighbouring strains could maximize the probability of efficient incorporation of novel alleles and genes that have proved to function in a genomically and ecologically similar context.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41467-021-23685-w
DO - 10.1038/s41467-021-23685-w
M3 - Article
C2 - 34103505
AN - SCOPUS:85107537620
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 12
JO - Nature communications
JF - Nature communications
IS - 1
M1 - 3457
ER -