Genome sequence of the mesophilic Thermotogales bacterium Mesotoga prima MesG1.Ag.4.2 reveals the largest Thermotogales genome to date.
Here we describe the genome of Mesotoga prima MesG1.Ag4.2, the first genome of a mesophilic Thermotogales bacterium. Mesotoga prima was isolated from a polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)-dechlorinating enrichment culture from Baltimore Harbor sediments. Its 2.97 Mb genome is considerably larger than any previously sequenced Thermotogales genomes, which range between 1.86 and 2.30 Mb. This larger size is due to both higher numbers of protein-coding genes and larger intergenic regions. In particular, the M. prima genome contains more genes for proteins involved in regulatory functions, for instance those involved in regulation of transcription. Together with its closest relative, Kosmotoga olearia, it also encodes different types of proteins involved in environmental and cell-cell interactions as compared with other Thermotogales bacteria. Amino acid composition analysis of M. prima proteins implies that this lineage has inhabited low-temperature environments for a long time. A large fraction of the M. prima genome has been acquired by lateral gene transfer (LGT): a DarkHorse analysis suggests that 766 (32%) of predicted protein-coding genes have been involved in LGT after Mesotoga diverged from the other Thermotogales lineages. A notable example of a lineage-specific LGT event is a reductive dehalogenase gene-a key enzyme in dehalorespiration, indicating M. prima may have a more active role in PCB dechlorination than was previously assumed.
Olga
O
Zhaxybayeva
Kristen S
KS
Swithers
Julia
J
Foght
Anna G
AG
Green
David
D
Bruce
Chris
C
Detter
Shunsheng
S
Han
Hazuki
H
Teshima
James
J
Han
Tanja
T
Woyke
Sam
S
Pitluck
Matt
M
Nolan
Natalia
N
Ivanova
Amrita
A
Pati
Miriam L
ML
Land
Marlena
M
Dlutek
W Ford
WF
Doolittle
Kenneth M
KM
Noll
Camilla L
CL
Nesbø
D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D059646:Genome Size; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny
D001426:Bacterial Proteins