Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!hao!boulder!eddy
From: eddy@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Sean Eddy)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: E. coli & Salmonella => When did they diverge?
Message-ID: <4791@sigi.Colorado.EDU>
Date: 12 Mar 88 00:09:24 GMT
References: <1663@aecom.YU.EDU>
Sender: news@sigi.Colorado.EDU
Reply-To: eddy@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Sean Eddy)
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Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Lines: 24
Keywords: Eubacterial evolution; phylogeny

In article <1663@aecom.YU.EDU> diaz@aecom.YU.EDU (Dizzy Dan) writes:
>I am trying to find out when E. coli and Salmonella typhimurium were
>supposed to have diverged from their common ancestor.  Does anyone know
>the answer or where I can find it?  Thanx.

E. coli and S. typhimurium diverged approximately 120 to 160 million
years ago, as determined by comparison of 16S and 5S rRNA sequences.
Strikingly, this date corresponds to the reported evolutionary
origin of mammals.

You might check out the recently published bible of coli-ology,
_Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium_, edited by Frederick
Neidhardt. My info comes from the last essay in this amazing
two-volume set, "Evolutionary history of enteric bacteria" by
Ochman and Wilson who claim to have a paper in preparation that
details the calculations behind the 120 to 160 million year figure.

- Sean Eddy
- Molecular/Cellular/Developmental Biology; U. of Colorado at Boulder
- eddy@boulder.colorado.EDU		!{hao,nbires}!boulder!eddy	
-
- "There will be no trouble adapting computers to biology. There
-  will be Luddites. But they will be buried."
-                                   - Sydney Brenner