Bacterial genome reduction using the progressive clustering of deletions via yeast sexual cycling.

ABSTRACT: The availability of genetically tractable organisms with simple genomes is critical for the rapid, systems-level understanding of basic biological processes. Mycoplasma bacteria, with the smallest known genomes among free-living cellular organisms, are ideal models for this purpose, but the natural versions of these cells have genome complexities still too great to offer a comprehensive view of a fundamental life form. Here we describe an efficient method for reducing genomes from these organisms by identifying individually deletable regions using transposon mutagenesis and progressively clustering deleted genomic segments using meiotic recombination between the bacterial genomes harbored in yeast. Mycoplasmal genomes subjected to this process and transplanted into recipient cells yielded

SUBMITTER: Suzuki Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4352883 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature