Genetic variation in clones of Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes after ten months of selection in different thermal environments in the laboratory.

The random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) method was used to examine genetic variation in experimental clones of Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes in two experimental groups, as well as their common ancestor. Six clones derived from a single colony of P. pseudoalcaligenes were cultured in two different thermal regimes for 10 months. Three clones in the Control group were cultured at constant temperature of 35 degrees C and another three clones in the High Temperature (HT) group were propagated at incremental temperature ranging from 41 to 47 degrees C for 10 months. A total of 45 RAPD primers generated 146 polymorphic markers. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed mild (11%) but significant (P < 0.001) genetic difference between the Control and the HT clones. Phylogenetic analysis based on pairwise genetic distances showed that the HT clones were more divergent from the ancestor and from each other than the Control clones, implying that the HT clones of P. pseudoalcaligenes may have evolved faster than the Control clones.