1. Global transposon mutagenesis and a minimal Mycoplasma genome.
- Author
-
Hutchison CA, Peterson SN, Gill SR, Cline RT, White O, Fraser CM, Smith HO, and Venter JC
- Subjects
- ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters genetics, ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters metabolism, Amino Acyl-tRNA Synthetases genetics, Bacterial Proteins genetics, Chromosome Mapping, DNA Polymerase III genetics, DNA Polymerase III metabolism, DNA Replication genetics, Glycolysis genetics, Lipoproteins genetics, Mycoplasma metabolism, Mycoplasma pneumoniae genetics, Mycoplasma pneumoniae metabolism, Ribosomal Proteins genetics, Transcription, Genetic, DNA Transposable Elements, Genes, Essential, Genome, Bacterial, Mutagenesis, Insertional, Mycoplasma genetics
- Abstract
Mycoplasma genitalium with 517 genes has the smallest gene complement of any independently replicating cell so far identified. Global transposon mutagenesis was used to identify nonessential genes in an effort to learn whether the naturally occurring gene complement is a true minimal genome under laboratory growth conditions. The positions of 2209 transposon insertions in the completely sequenced genomes of M. genitalium and its close relative M. pneumoniae were determined by sequencing across the junction of the transposon and the genomic DNA. These junctions defined 1354 distinct sites of insertion that were not lethal. The analysis suggests that 265 to 350 of the 480 protein-coding genes of M. genitalium are essential under laboratory growth conditions, including about 100 genes of unknown function.
- Published
- 1999
- Full Text
- View/download PDF