You are what you eat: a gene transfer ratchet could account for
bacterial genes in eukaryotic nuclear genomes.
Although these studies have generated vast amounts of descriptive data, the functions of most
bacterial genes in these collections remain poorly characterized or wholly unknown.
«They are getting small by coopting
bacterial genes in the host, a level of complexity that we would not have predicted.»
Suspecting that the other four carried a new Ehrlichia species, the researchers sequenced
the bacterial gene in their blood and compared it to a database containing the sequences of known infectious bacteria.
By analyzing variation in a specific
bacterial gene in his samples — the greater the variability, the higher the variety of species — Fierer found that deserts contained up to twice as many bacterial species, roughly 10,000 per 10 square meters, as did acidic rain forest soils.
Not exact matches
This creates combinations of plant, animal,
bacterial and virus
genes that do not occur
in nature or through traditional crossbreeding methods.
«Recombinant DNA technology», «DNA cloning», «molecular cloning» or «
gene cloning» all describe the process of transferring a DNA fragment from one organism to a self - replicating genetic element (a cloning vector) such as a
bacterial plasmid, enabling the fragment to be propagated
in an alien host.
In addition both constructs contain the constitutive Ubi promoter and nos T terminator, the bar
gene conferring herbicide tolerance and may contain further sequences of
bacterial origin including the neomycin phosphotransferase (nptI) selectable marker
gene.
Ten sets of
bacterial genes have similar, newly discovered defense roles, researchers report online January 25
in Science.
Together, our collective guts have just under 3.3 million
bacterial genes, more than 150 times as many as reside
in our own genomes.
Clark also tested his own blood, where he found traces of B. burgdorferi along with another distinct genospecies (a
bacterial species separated by divergence of
genes), Borrelia andersonii, usually found
in rabbits.
The results show — for the first time, Briggs thinks — that the
bacterial genomes change with depth: the micro-organisms at 554 metres carry more mutations
in genes that code for energy - related processes like cell division and biosynthesis of amino acids than are seen
in their shallower counterparts.
Because the prion - forming protein identified
in the study normally functions as a regulator of
gene activity, the researchers say their discovery raises the possibility that when it switches to a prion state, it could alter genetic expression and
bacterial behavior.
The animals were five times as likely as regular mice to go into shock and die when exposed to
bacterial cells, the group reports
in the November 15 issue of
Genes and Development.
Rho, found
in many bacteria, acts as a protein regulator of
bacterial gene expression, determining which
genes get turned on or off.
In 2010, the environment ministry put on hold the commercial planting of GM brinjal, an eggplant variety, equipped with a
bacterial gene that thwarts insect pests.
Using high - throughput DNA sequencing, the researchers located mutations
in bacterial genes that resisted the toxicity of growth inhibitors produced by
bacterial viruses.
This information may help to predict which other
bacterial species might participate
in this form of
gene transfer, and to identify just how widespread the phenomenon is.
In this way, the team identified a new small protein, growth inhibitor
gene product (Gp) 0.6, which specifically targets and inhibits the activity of a protein essential to
bacterial cells.
Bacteria expressing enzyme
in one cell (bright green), while genetically identical cells do not, remaining protected from antibiotic onslaught; image courtesy of Yuichi Wakamoto / Neeraj Dhar / John McKinney Some strains of nasty
bacterial infections, such as MRSA (methicillin - resistant Staphylococcus aureus), come loaded with resistance to antibiotics built right into their
genes.
To supply lactase over the long haul, Matthew During and his colleagues at Jefferson Medical College
in Philadelphia devised a strategy for incorporating the
bacterial lactase
gene into intestinal cells.
B: Well, we were
in the midst of experiments aiming to use an animal virus to introduce new
genes into human cells and into
bacterial cells.
The new
gene - expression test for
bacterial infection faces two hurdles before it can be made available to doctors
in a few years.
In this study that used deep DNA sequencing of bacterial specific genes, the guts of both males and females exposed to lead had all of the similar complexity in microbiota as those not expose
In this study that used deep DNA sequencing of
bacterial specific
genes, the guts of both males and females exposed to lead had all of the similar complexity
in microbiota as those not expose
in microbiota as those not exposed.
A
gene associated with both protection against
bacterial infection and excessive blood clotting could offer new insights into treatment strategies for deep - vein thrombosis — the formation of a harmful clot
in a deep vein.
Beginning
in the 1970s, cloning techniques enabled researchers to create multiple copies of a
gene by inserting it into a
bacterial colony.
Then, they examined the
bacterial DNA, looking for patterns or variations
in the microbes»
genes that would help them identify specific strains of bacteria.
When they sequenced the complete genomes of the Y. pestis DNA
in those seven individuals, the team found that the
bacterial genomes from the earliest samples lacked two
genes that helped Y. pestis evade the immune systems of humans and fleas during the Black Death.
When Fishel and Kolodner heard of the accumulation of mutations
in cancer cells from patients with familial colon cancer, they suspected that the
gene responsible would be similar to the
bacterial and yeast
genes they had studied.
Published Dec. 18, 2017
in Nature Genetics, a team led by researchers at Joint Genome Institute (JGI) and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) have exploited a catalog of
bacterial genomes to identify and characterize candidate
genes that aid bacteria
in adapting to plant environments, specifically
genes involved
in bacterial root colonization.
Published December 18, 2017 issue
in Nature Genetics, a team led by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute (JGI), a DOE Office of Science User Facility, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) have exploited a catalog of
bacterial genomes to identify and characterize candidate
genes that aid bacteria
in adapting to plant environments, specifically
genes involved
in bacterial root colonization.
By comparing differences
in the
gene that confers antibiotic resistance, as well as other pieces of DNA, the team determined that 70 % of their samples included just five
bacterial strains.
First, they managed to make the
bacterial lysostaphin
gene function effectively
in cultures of mammalian cells.
But while this study has proved that the technique works
in a simple organism, it could also be applied to other
bacterial species, yeast or even human cells to find useful information about how
genes are controlled and how they can be manipulated.
We're still struggling with the smallest
bacterial cell,
in which we don't know what even one - fifth of the
genes do.
The putative archaeal host existed
in a stable symbiotic relationship with one or more
bacterial species, with the capacity for both
gene and lipid exchange between species.
The Duke team has previously explored blood tests to examine a patient's RNA for
gene signatures to distinguish
bacterial and viral infections
in the upper respiratory tract and is working with a private company to develop potential diagnostics.
These crops, being embraced by big agriculture
in the U.S., carry
genes that imbue them with resistance to herbicides and lace their tissues with a
bacterial toxin harmless to humans but fatal to pests that may try to feed on them.
He says this idea has «very profound» implications for the debate over the origins of
bacterial genes that are present
in the human genome but absent
in our closest relatives (Science, 8 June, p. 1903): The amount of conjugation Waters detected is «high enough to readily explain» the possible infiltration of
bacterial genesinto our DNA, meaning that conjugation could have happened quickly enough to add
genes only to humans,
in the years since they split from the common ancestor they shared with chimpanzees.
While antibiotic resistance
genes are not harmful
in themselves, they limit the use of antibiotics for treating
bacterial infections and pose a serious threat to global public health if they get transmitted to humans from environmental sources, such as compost.
Although Jack and Malcolm had never met F2F, they were a tight team with a good rep on the Distributed Biology Network:
gene hunters who amplified
bacterial DNA from soil and water samples, shotgun sequenced it, and identified
genes that weren't
in the catalogs.
To show that technique worked, the scientists used DropSynth to make thousands of
bacterial genes — each as long as 669 base pairs
in length.
Ten classifier
genes distinguished infants with bacteremia from those without
bacterial infections
in the test set.
In her experiments, Lopatkin put
bacterial cells under a sort of suspended animation where they could neither die nor reproduce but they could still swap
genes.
«Antibiotics don't promote swapping of resistance
genes:
Bacterial resistance spreads through population dynamics, not an increase
in gene transfers.»
Sixty - six classifier
genes were identified that distinguished infants with and without
bacterial infections
in the test set.
Bacterial populations pose an intriguing puzzle:
in so - called isogenic populations, all bacteria have the same
genes, but they still behave differently, for example grow at different speeds.
Plasmids are also key players
in moving antibiotic resistance
genes between different
bacterial species.
Cd14 is involved
in the detection of
bacterial factors and has been identified as a candidate
gene in genetic screens.
So
in the new study the researchers slipped the «alien» pair of bases into
bacterial genes that also contained traditional bases.