Rapid gene exchange explains differences in bacterial pangenome structure
Samuel Horsfield, Anlei Peng, Matthew Russell, Johanna von Wachsmann, Jacqueline Toussaint, Joshua C D'Aeth, Chuhan Qin, Henri Pesonen, Gerry Q. Tonkin‐Hill, Jukka Corander, Nicholas J. Croucher, John A. Lees
The paper develops a model to analyze pangenome dynamics and finds that differences in bacterial pangenomes are mainly due to variation in the number of rapidly exchanged genes.
bioRxiv · Feb 6, 2026 · PreprintBioinformatics