The genome of Heliobacterium modesticaldum, a phototrophic representative of the Firmicutes containing the simplest photosynthetic apparatus.

ABSTRACT: Despite the fact that heliobacteria are the only phototrophic representatives of the bacterial phylum Firmicutes, genomic analyses of these organisms have yet to be reported. Here we describe the complete sequence and analysis of the genome of Heliobacterium modesticaldum, a thermophilic species belonging to this unique group of phototrophs. The genome is a single 3.1-Mb circular chromosome containing 3,138 open reading frames. As suspected from physiological studies of heliobacteria that have failed to show photoautotrophic growth, genes encoding enzymes for known autotrophic pathways in other phototrophic organisms, including ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase (Calvin cycle), citrate lyase (reverse citric acid cycle), and malyl coenzyme A lyase (3-hydroxypropionate pathway), are not prese

SUBMITTER: Sattley WM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2446807 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature