Heterozygous, polyploid, giant bacterium, Achromatium, possesses an identical functional inventory worldwide across drastically different ecosystems

Achromatium is large, hyperpolyploid and the only known heterozygous bacterium. Single cells contain ca. 300 different chromosomes with allelic diversity typical of entire bacterial communities. Surveying all publicly available sediment sequence archives, we show Achromatia are common worldwide, spanning temperature, salinity, pH, and depth ranges normally resulting in bacterial speciation.

Nevertheless, Achromatia display no ecotypic phylogenetic signal and contain a, globally identical, complete functional inventory. Achromatia cells from differing ecosystems (e.g. freshwater vs. saline) are, unexpectedly, equally functionally equipped but differ in gene expression patterns by transcribing only relevant genes. We suggest environmental adaptation occurs by increasing the copy number of relevant genes across the cell’s hundreds of chromosomes, without losing irrelevant ones, thus maintaining the ability to survive in any ecosystem type.

The functional versatility of Achromatium, and its genomic features, reveal alternative genetic and evolutionary mechanisms, expanding our understanding of the role and evolution of polyploidy in bacteria while challenging the bacterial species concept and drivers of bacterial speciation.