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Quantitative and Theoretical Microbial Population Biology

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The Prokaryotes

Abstract

Microbes are extraordinarily diverse, not only in terms of their genetics and metabolism, but even in the fundamental evolutionary processes that give rise to their diversity. Because the biological species concept, largely developed for vertebrate animals, does not apply to bacteria and archaea, it has been challenging to conceptualize what a microbial population should be. However, recent evidence suggests that akin to populations of animals and plants, genotypic clusters can be recognized among co-existing microbes. These represent tractable units to address fundamental ecological and evolutionary questions with first results suggesting cohesive ecological properties in spite of high genetic diversity within clusters. Progress in genomic sequencing and computational tools are leading toward an integrated understanding of how mutation, recombination and gene transfer combine with selection to create microbial diversity, and how populations adapt to novel environmental challenges.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Nick Croucher for valuable discussions and suggestions. Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Parsons Laboratory, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Prof. Martin F. Polz

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    William P. Hanage

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  1. Prof. Martin F. Polz
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  2. William P. Hanage
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Martin F. Polz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Eugene Rosenberg

  2. Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Edward F. DeLong

  3. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Stephen Lory

  4. Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Braunschweig, Germany

    Erko Stackebrandt

  5. Laboratory of Microbiology, Institute of Biology, Center for Health Sciences, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Fabiano Thompson

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Polz, M.F., Hanage, W.P. (2013). Quantitative and Theoretical Microbial Population Biology. In: Rosenberg, E., DeLong, E.F., Lory, S., Stackebrandt, E., Thompson, F. (eds) The Prokaryotes. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30123-0_35

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