engleski

Translational optimization and functional adaptation across microbial communities

Metagenomics projects sequence microbial communities’ genomes to shed light on the myriad of genetic capabilities that enable them to inhabit virtually every corner of the biosphere. Computational analyses of genetic content in numerous completed metagenomic projects to date have been limited to counting genes and their respective functions found in an environment, and to phylogenetic classification of sequenced samples. We explore well-established concepts of translational optimization and codon adaptation studies, proven relevant at the level of single bacterial genomes, on metagenomic datasets from 8 distinct environments. We show that all microbial species in a metagenome, regardless of their phylogenetic distribution, also share similar codon usage bias in genes optimized at the translational level, specifically ribosomal protein genes and genes required for adaptation to specific environments. In this respect, we have found evidence that microbial communities indeed behave as meta- genomes, which enables us to track functional adaptations of entire communities to diverse environments.

metagenomics; codon usage; translational optimization

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