Many bacteria are sexual for reasons we do not fully understand. This is scientifically intriguingand poses a health problem in that antibiotic resistance genes are spread in this manner. In twolarge bacterial families with highly resilient and pathogenic species, evolution has left a genomictrace of sex: Uptake Sequences (US). This project aims to follow that trace by applying acomprehensive genomic characterization of US in available genomes from both bacterial families.Our hypothesis is: “US in two different bacterial families have accumulated and tuned themselvesinto the same certain types of genes whose function educate our understanding of what benefitbacteria have from being sexual, and potentially under which conditions”. The work is split in threeconsecutive work packages, starting with the analysis of differences in US-richness and bias toparticular genes, followed by investigation of the evolutionary tuning of intragenic US andconcludes by characterization of allelic diversity in the genes identified initially. The project isnovel and ambitious in taking a fresh look at how groups of genes are classified and by using USdistributions as guide. The impact of looking for the rationale behind bacterial sex is substantial.The project may pave way for new intervention strategies in fighting infections. The higheststandards for research integrity and research ethics apply. The project outputs will becommunicated to the international scientific community and to the public. A PhD candidate willreceive expert supervision by specialists in the field and lift digital science at the faculty. Theproject complies with strategic documents, is feasible in regard of workload, the allocated time (3years) and financial resources. Finally, the project provides a unique opportunity to dwell over oneof the remaining unanswered questions in biology, why sex?
