title: Identification of DNA Methyltransferase Genes in Human Pathogenic Bacteria by Comparative Genomics.
abstract: DNA methylation plays an important role in gene expression and virulence in some pathogenic bacteria. In this report, we describe DNA methyltransferases (MTases) present in human pathogenic bacteria and compared them with related species, which are not pathogenic or less pathogenic, based in comparative genomics. We performed a search in the KEGG database of the KEGG database orthology groups associated with adenine and cytosine DNA MTase activities (EC: 2.1.1.37, EC: 2.1.1.113 and EC: 2.1.1.72) in 37 human pathogenic species and 18 non/less pathogenic relatives and performed comparisons of the number of these MTases sequences according to their genome size, the DNA MTase type and with their non-less pathogenic relatives. We observed that Helicobacter pylori and Neisseria spp. presented the highest number of MTases while ten different species did not present a predicted DNA MTase. We also detected a significant increase of adenine MTases over cytosine MTases (2.19 vs. 1.06, respectively, p < 0.001). Adenine MTases were the only MTases associated with restriction modification systems and DNA MTases associated with type I restriction modification systems were more numerous than those associated with type III restriction modification systems (0.84 vs. 0.17, p < 0.001); additionally, there was no correlation with the genome size and the total number of DNA MTases, indicating that the number of DNA MTases is related to the particular evolution and lifestyle of specific species, regulating the expression of virulence genes in some pathogenic bacteria.
authors: Departamento de Fisiología, Centro Universitario de Ciencias de La Salud (CUCS), Universidad de Guadalajara, Sierra Mojada #800, Colonia Independencia, 44340 Guadalajara, Jalisco Mexico ; Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas Computacionales y Automatización, Instituto de Investigación en Matemáticas Aplicadas y Sistemas (IIMAS), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Escolar #300, 04510 Ciudad Universitaria, Distrito Federal Mexico.
authors: Aniel Jessica Leticia
authors: AJ
authors: Brambila-Tapia
authors: Departamento de Ingeniería celular y biocatálisis, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Cuernavaca, Morelos Mexico.
authors: Augusto Cesar
authors: AC
authors: Poot-Hernández
authors: Departamento de Ingeniería celular y biocatálisis, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Cuernavaca, Morelos Mexico.
authors: Ernesto
authors: E
authors: Perez-Rueda
authors: Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas Computacionales y Automatización, Instituto de Investigación en Matemáticas Aplicadas y Sistemas (IIMAS), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Escolar #300, 04510 Ciudad Universitaria, Distrito Federal Mexico.
authors: Katya
authors: K
authors: Rodríguez-Vázquez
keywords: Comparative genomics; DNA methyltransferases; Pathogenic bacteria