BIOC 4403 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Mycoplasma Laboratorium, Mycoplasma Genitalium, Intracellular Parasite
27 Mar 2017
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Document Summary
Genome reduction is common in intracellular bacteria, such as obligate intracellular pathogens and endosymbionts. It contributes to the evolution of host-dependent bacterial variants. 3 common forces influencing prokaryotic genomes: genome reduction by deletion events (intracellular bacterium, obligate intracellular pathogen, endosymbiont, gene acquisition by hgt (extracellular bacterium, facultative pathogen, symbiont, mutations, rearrangements (all lifestyles) Minimal genome: the minimal set of genes that can support the basic cellular processes of a free-living organism in a rich growth medium and in the absence of any selective pressure. Mycoplasma laboratorium is the species being studied by synthetic biologists interested in the minimal genome concept. Mycoplasma genitalium is the free-living organism with the smallest genome. It is 2-4x as large as the genomes of 5 symbionts recently shown to have small genomes: mutational biases, deletion biases, population genetics. Mutual interdependence of the metabolism of a host insect and one or more bacterial symbionts.
