All SCP examined to date (n = 34) are not naturally competent, but competence has been shown in SI (Lacroix, Grinwis and Surette, unpublished data).
In this model, the ancestors of many bacterial families were naturally competent but competence has been and continues to be frequently lost.
Furthermore the distribution of natural competence is surprisingly sporadic; most naturally competent bacteria have many relatives, including other strains of the same species, that cannot be transformed under laboratory conditions (for examples see [ 3- 6]).
The abundance of USS repeats in A. succinogenes and the possible presence of the necessary machinery for natural competence suggested that A. succinogenes is naturally competent, a feature that was recently demonstrated in our laboratory.
The abundance of USS repeats in A. succinogenes and the possible presence of the necessary machinery for natural competence suggested that A. succinogenes could be naturally competent.
Another advantage of B. subtilis, is that domesticated laboratory strains like "168" are naturally competent and even for environmental isolates, competence can be genetically established (Nijland et al. 2010).
Under the model proposed by Redfield et al. [36], ancestral H. influenzae was naturally competent but its descendants frequently lost competence by mutation.
Pneumococci are naturally competent organisms and can easily exchange DNA in their natural habitat, the human mouth and throat.
The uptake specificity of some naturally competent bacteria can also guide inferences about the evolution of competence.
Although naturally competent, NTHi take up plasmids by transformation very inefficiently, if at all.
Many species are naturally competent, and they develop the ability to actively take up DNA under specific conditions.
