Covariability of Vibrio cholerae Microdiversity and Environmental Parameters

Center of Marine Biotechnology, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, 701 E. Pratt St., Baltimore, MD 21202, U.S.A.; Center of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Maryland Institute of Advanced Computer Studies, University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD 20742, U.S.A.; National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, 113 Phahonyothin Rd., Klong 1, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand; Department of Bacteriology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Toyama 1-23-1, Shinjuku ku, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: rcolwell{at}umiacs.umd.edu.

	Abstract

Fine scale diversity of natural bacterial assemblages has been attributed to neutral radiation because correspondence between bacterial phylogenetic signals in the natural environment and environmental parameters had not been detected. Evidence that such correspondence occurs is provided for Vibrio cholerae, establishing a critical role for environmental parameters in bacterial diversity.