Naslov
Evolutionary Analysis of the Bacillus subtilis Genome Reveals New Genes Involved in Sporulation

Autori
Shi, Lei ; Derouiche, Abderahmane ; Pandit, Santosh ; Rahimi, Shadi ; Kalantari, Aida ; Futo, Momir ; Ravikumar, Vaishnavi ; Jers, Carsten ; Mokkapati, Venkata R S S ; Vlahoviček, Kristian ; Mijakovic, Ivan

Izvornik
Molecular biology and evolution (0737-4038) 37 (2020), 6; 1667-1678

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
sporulation ; genomic phylostratigraphy ; genome mining ; Bacillus subtilis

Sažetak
Bacilli can form dormant, highly resistant, and metabolically inactive spores to cope with extreme environmental challenges. In this study, we examined the evolutionary age of Bacillus subtilis sporulation genes using the approach known as genomic phylostratigraphy. We found that B. subtilis sporulation genes cluster in several groups that emerged at distant evolutionary time-points, suggesting that the sporulation process underwent several stages of expansion. Next, we asked whether such evolutionary stratification of the genome could be used to predict involvement in sporulation of presently uncharacterized genes (y-genes). We individually inactivated a representative sample of uncharacterized genes that arose during the same evolutionary periods as the known sporulation genes and tested the resulting strains for sporulation phenotypes. Sporulation was significantly affected in 16 out of 37 (43%) tested strains. In addition to expanding the knowledge base on B. subtilis sporulation, our findings suggest that evolutionary age could be used to help with genome mining.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Biologija, Interdisciplinarne prirodne znanosti, Biotehnologija, Biotehnologija u biomedicini (prirodno područje, biomedicina i zdravstvo, biotehničko područje)

POVEZANOST RADA