Massive Gene Flux Drives Genome Diversity between Sympatric <i>Streptomyces</i> Conspecifics

Abstract

In this work, by comparing genomes of closely related individuals of <i>Streptomyces</i> isolated at a spatial microscale (millimeters or centimeters), we investigated the extent and impact of horizontal gene transfer in the diversification of a natural <i>Streptomyces</i> population. We show that despite these conspecific strains sharing a recent common ancestor, all harbored significantly different gene contents, implying massive and rapid gene flux. The accessory genome of the strains was distributed across insertion/deletion events (indels) ranging from one to several hundreds of genes. Indels were preferentially located in the arms of the linear chromosomes (ca. 12 Mb) and appeared to form recombination hot spots. Some of them harbored biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) whose products confer an inhibitory capacity and may constitute public goods that can favor the cohesiveness of the bacterial population. Moreover, a significant proportion of these variable genes were either plasmid borne or harbored signatures of actinomycete integrative and conjugative elements (AICEs). We propose that conjugation is the main driver for the indel flux and diversity in <i>Streptomyces</i> populations.<b>IMPORTANCE</b> Horizontal gene transfer is a rapid and efficient way to diversify bacterial gene pools. Currently, little is known about this gene flux within natural soil populations. Using comparative genomics of <i>Streptomyces</i> strains belonging to the same species and isolated at microscale, we reveal frequent transfer of a significant fraction of the pangenome. We show that it occurs at a time scale enabling the population to diversify and to cope with its changing environment, notably, through the production of public goods.