Streptococcus pneumoniae Raw sequence reads

Streptococcus pneumoniae adapts and evolves through recombinational exchanges of genes between strains carrying ~2000-gene samples of a much larger pan-genome of the species. To model gene transfer by the mechanism of genetic transformation at the single-cell level, dispersed cells were enclosed in femtoliter-scale microfluidics droplets. Whole-genome sequencing of strains resulting from isolated interactions within the droplets provides a picture of genetic transformation as an interaction between two living cells, in which lysis of a target cell by contact with a single competent cell releases sufficient DNA to support multiple simultaneous recombination events, including some replacements as long as 80 kbp.