title: Shrinking genomics.
abstract: Two bacteria are featured this month, and both are at the lower end of the genome size scale. The first, Mycoplasma gallisepticum, belongs to a group of bacteria that have been studied both as important human and animal pathogens and in the pursuit of understanding the essential functions of a self-replicating minimal cell. The second, Nanoarchaeum equitans, is an obligate symbiont that only grows in co-culture with another archaeon. N. equitans seems to be the coelacanth of the microbial world--it has been assigned to a new phylum and represents a primitive form of prokaroytic life.
authors.affiliation: Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK.
authors.forename: Nicholas R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Thomson
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sebaihia
authors.forename: Ana M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Cerdeño-Tárraga
authors.forename: Matthew T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Holden
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Parkhill
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001105:Archaea / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D019843:Archaeal Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D020745:Genome, Archaeal; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D009175:Mycoplasma Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D045686:Mycoplasma gallisepticum / Q000235:genetics*; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013559:Symbiosis
chemical_list: D019843:Archaeal Proteins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins