Recombination processes and non-linear Markov chains

Abstract

Bacteria are known to exchange genetic information by horizontal gene transfer. Since the frequency of homologous recombination depends on the similarity of recombining segments, several studies examined whether this could lead to the emergence of subspecies. Most of them used simulations of fixed size Wright-Fisher populations, in which the genetic drift should be taken into account. Here, we use non-linear Markov chains to describe a bacterial population evolving under mutation and recombination processes. We consider a population as a space of genomes and a probability measure on it. Thus, the genetic drift is not assumed. We prove that under these conditions the emergence of subspecies is impossible, so the genetic drift is a necessary driving force of bacterial speciation.