Implications of streamlining theory for microbial ecology

Whether a small cell, a small genome or a minimal set of chemical reactions with self-replicating properties, simplicity is beguiling. As Leonardo da Vinci reportedly said, 'simplicity is the ultimate sophistication'. Two diverging views of simplicity have emerged in accounts of symbiotic and commensal bacteria and cosmopolitan free-living bacteria with small genomes. The small genomes of obligate insect endosymbionts have been attributed to genetic drift caused by small effective population sizes (Ne). In contrast, streamlining theory attributes small cells and genomes to selection for efficient use of nutrients in populations where Ne is large and nutrients limit growth. Regardless of the cause of genome…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: 0802004, OCE-0802004
• GA
  Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
• SR
  Sight Research UK

  Award: pml010002
• NE
  Natural Environment Research Council

  Award: pml010002