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Mycobacterium smegmatis genomic characteristics associated with its saprophyte lifestyle
Author(s) -
Long Quanxin,
Zhou Qi,
Ji Lei,
Wu Jun,
Wang Wen,
Xie Jianping
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of cellular biochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.028
H-Index - 165
eISSN - 1097-4644
pISSN - 0730-2312
DOI - 10.1002/jcb.24199
Subject(s) - mycobacterium smegmatis , biology , mycobacterium tuberculosis , gene ontology , gene , computational biology , adaptation (eye) , tuberculosis , genetics , medicine , gene expression , pathology , neuroscience
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a great threat to global public health. The high biosafety level III required to tackle its causative agent Mycobacterium tuberculosis seriously hinders the exploration of its biology and new countermeasures. M. smegmatis is a widely recognized good surrogate of M. tuberculosis , largely due to their conserved transcriptional machinery, sigma factors, and two‐component systems. However, their distinct lifestyles often confound the explanation of the results. M. tuberculosis leads both parasitic and free life, while M. smegmatis is largely saprophyte. To make full advantage of this model, it is helpful to discover the genome features associated with M. smegmatis unique niches, such as its saprophytic life, high salt tolerance, and relative short generation time. We employed the gene ontology enrichment analysis to characterize the unique lifestyle of M. smegmatis . Gene ontology enrichment analysis provided 12 terms; most are relevant to the special lifestyle of M. smegmatis , especially the saprophytic niche, high salt tolerance adaptation, and short generation time. In‐depth functional characterization of these genes will shed new lights on the genetic basis of M. smegmatis saprophytic life and hasten the understanding of the unique biology of M. tuberculosis . J. Cell. Biochem. 113: 3051–3055, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.