The genetics of bacterial evolution and biodiversity

The aim of the project is to significantly advance and deepen knowledge of the mechanisms driving evolution and biodiversity in the bacterial kingdom.

Bacterial evolutionary change is traditionally explained by the combined effects of mutation and horizontal gene transfer events.

However, analysis of the ongoing flood of bacterial genomic data has revealed at least two features of bacterial chromosomes that appear to be discordant with the standard model of genetic change.

These are, the recent discoveries of bacterial strains with hybrid chromosomes, and the prevalence of chromosomal gene order rearrangements between bacterial species, neither of which is easily explained by the traditional model.

By combining experimental and in silico approaches the project will explore hypotheses to explain the mechanisms driving these changes, their relevance in clinical and natural isolates, and the genetic and environmental features that influence the rates of change associated with these mechanisms.

The outcomes will influence our understanding in several important areas, including evolution of virulence and antibiotic resistant pathogens, and the processes of lineage separation and speciation in bacteria.

This project concept is highly original and could fundamentally expand our understanding of mechanisms and rates of bacterial evolution.