We invite abstract submission for the symposium "The evolution of
microbial pangenomes" at ESEB https://eseb2025.com/call-for-abstracts/
(Abstract deadline: 25 April)

Invited talks:

Jesse Shapiro - Looking for Darwin's footprints in prokaryotic pangenomes

Anna Dewar - Why do pangenomes vary so much across bacteria?

Pangenomes describe the set of all genes in a microbial species. For
most species, pangenomes contain substantially more genes than any
single genome. Because such genes can be horizontally transferred within
and across populations, the pangenome represents a pool of genes of
different functions that can enhance the adaptability of microbes to
changing environments. Bacterial species vary in the size and shape of
their pangenomes, for example by showing a range of variation in the
proportion of core and accessory genes. The shape of microbial pangenomes
results from a combination of selection and non-adaptive processes, such
as horizontal gene transfer, gene loss, and migration. Particularly,
complex selection processes, such as frequency-dependent selection
and epistasis between genes, are expected to play an important role in
microbial pangenomes. Vice versa, the distribution of genes in bacterial
pangenomes impacts the adaptability and evolutionary plasticity of
bacterial populations. The recent steep increase in bacterial genome
sequencing data and advances in high-throughput laboratory methods
now provide the opportunity to describe and understand the different
evolutionary factors that shape these pangenomes. This symposium will
bring together scientists working on experimental approaches, comparative
genomics analyses, and evolutionary modelling to develop an understanding
of the different evolutionary processes that shape pangenomes and the
eco-evolutionary implications of pangenome variability across prokaryotes.

"Kupczok, Anne" <anne.kupczok@wur.nl>

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