Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex species display relatively static genomes and 99.9% nucleotide sequence identity. Studying the evolutionary history of such monomorphic bacteria is a difficult and challenging task.
Principal Findings
We found that single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis of DNA repair, recombination and replication (3R) genes in a comprehensive selection of M. tuberculosis complex strains from across the world, yielded surprisingly high levels of polymorphisms as compared to house-keeping genes, making it possible to distinguish between 80% of clinical isolates analyzed in this study. Bioinformatics analysis suggests that a large number of these polymorphisms are potentially deleterious. Site frequency spectrum comparison of synonymous and non-synonymous variants and Ka/Ks ratio analysis suggest a general negative/purifying selection acting on these sets of genes that may lead to suboptimal 3R system activity. In turn, the relaxed fidelity of 3R genes may allow the occurrence of adaptive variants, some of which will survive. Furthermore, 3R-based phylogenetic trees are a new tool for distinguishing between M. tuberculosis complex strains.
Conclusions/Significance
This situation, and the consequent lack of fidelity in genome maintenance, may serve as a starting point for the evolution of antibiotic resistance, fitness for survival and pathogenicity, possibly conferring a selective advantage in certain stressful situations. These findings suggest that 3R genes may play an important role in the evolution of highly clonal bacteria, such as M. tuberculosis. They also facilitate further epidemiological studies of these bacteria, through the development of high-resolution tools. With many more microbial genomes being sequenced, our results open the door to 3R gene-based studies of adaptation and evolution of other, highly clonal bacteria. 相似文献
This paper deals with phylogenetic relationships among a set of 90 clinical strains representative of the worldwide diversity
of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (Kremer et al. 1999) using eight independent genetic markers: IS6110, IS1081, the direct repeat (DR) locus, and five variable number of tandem DNA repeat loci (VNTR). In a preliminary experiment, phylogenetic
trees based on single markers were constructed that led to the detection of some similarities between the VNTR-based and the
spoligotyping-based phylogenetic trees. In the second step, a more global phenetic approach based on pairwise comparison of
strains within each typing system was used, followed by calculations of mean genetic distances based on all the eight loci
and the use of the neighbor-joining algorithm for tree reconstruction. This analysis confirmed our preliminary observations
and suggested the existence of at least two new phylogeographical clades of M. tuberculosis, one defined as the ``East African–Indian family' (EA-I), which may find its origin on the African or Asian continents, and
the other as the ``Latin American and Mediterranean' (LA-M) family. The existence of these two families was also validated
by an independent phylogenetic analysis of spoligotyping on a larger set of shared types (n= 252) and further corroborated by VNTR and katG–gyrA results. The potential origin of these families of bacilli is discussed based on cattle domestication and human migration
history. In conclusion, the information contained in insertion sequence and repetitive DNAs may serve as a model for the phylogenetic
reconstruction of the M. tuberculosis complex. 相似文献
The interactions between N-tosylamino acids and cobalt(II), nickel(II) and zinc(II) ions in aqueous solution and in the solid state have been investigated. From concentrated aqueous solutions, compounds of general formula [M(II)(N-tosylaminoacidato)2(H2O)4](M = Co(II), Ni(II) and N-tosylaminoacidato = N-tosylglycinate (Tsgly?), N-tosyl-α- and -β-alaninate (Ts-α- and Ts-β-ala?); M = Zn(II) and N-tosylaminoacidate = Tsgly?, Ts-β-ala?) and [Zn(II)(N- tosylaminoacidato)2(H2O)2] were isolated and characterized by means of thermogravimetric, electronic and infrared spectra. For two of them: [Co(Tsgly)2(H2O)4](I) and [Zn(Ts-β-ala)2(H2O)4](II) the crystal and molecular structures were also determined. Both compounds crystallize in the monoclinic space group P21/c, with two formula units in a cell of dimensions: a = 13.007(6), b = 5.036(2), c = 18.925(7) Å, β = 102.33(3)° for (I) and a = 14.173(6), b = 5.469(2), c = 17.701(7) Å, β = 106.63(3)° for (II). The structures were solved by the heavy-atom method and refined by least-squares calculations to R = 0.031 and 0.064 for (I) and (II) respectively. The cobalt and zinc atoms lie in the centers of symmetry, each bonded to two amino- acid molecules through a carboxylic oxygen atom and four water molecules in a slightly tetragonally distorted octahedral geometry. The second carboxylic oxygen atom is not involved in metal coordination. Electronic and X ray-powder spectra suggest that the tetrahydrate complexes of Co2+, Ni2+ and Zn2+ ions of the same amino acids are isomorphous and isostructural. No coordinative interactions between ligand and metal ions were found in aqueous solution on varying the pH values before hydroxide precipitation. 相似文献
We report on the first successful output of electrons directly from photosystem I (PSI) of thermophilic cyanobacteria to the gate of a field-effect transistor (FET) by bypassing electron flow via a newly designed molecular wire, i.e., artificial vitamin K(1), and a gold nanoparticle; in short, this newly manufactured photosensor employs a bio-functional unit as the core of the device. Photo-electrons generated by the irradiation of molecular complexes composed of reconstituted PSI on the gate were found to control the FET. This PSI-bio-photosensor can be used to interpret gradation in images. This PSI-FET system is moreover sufficiently stable for use exceeding a period of 1 year. 相似文献
We report on the first successful output of electrons directly from photosystem I (PSI) of thermophilic cyanobacteria to the gate of a field-effect transistor (FET) by bypassing electron flow via a newly designed molecular wire, i.e., artificial vitamin K1, and a gold nanoparticle; in short, this newly manufactured photosensor employs a bio-functional unit as the core of the device. Photo-electrons generated by the irradiation of molecular complexes composed of reconstituted PSI on the gate were found to control the FET. This PSI-bio-photosensor can be used to interpret gradation in images. This PSI-FET system is moreover sufficiently stable for use exceeding a period of 1 year. 相似文献
Bacterial cellulose is composed of an ultrafine nanofiber network and well-ordered structure; therefore, it offers several advantages when used as native polymer or in composite systems.
In this study, a pool of 34 acetic acid bacteria strains belonging to Komagataeibacter xylinus were screened for their ability to produce bacterial cellulose. Bacterial cellulose layers of different thickness were observed for all the culture strains. A high-producing strain, which secreted more than 23 g/L of bacterial cellulose on the isolation broth during 10 days of static cultivation, was selected and tested in optimized culture conditions. In static conditions, the increase of cellulose yield and the reduction of by-products such as gluconic acid were observed. Dried bacterial cellulose obtained in the optimized broth was characterized to determine its microstructural, thermal, and mechanical properties. All the findings of this study support the use of bacterial cellulose produced by the selected strain for biomedical and food applications.