The Cipher Code of Simple Sequence Repeats in "Vampire Pathogens".

ABSTRACT: Blood inside mammals is a forbidden area for the majority of prokaryotic microbes; however, red blood cells tropism microbes, like "vampire pathogens" (VP), succeed in matching scarce nutrients and surviving strong immunity reactions. Here, we found VP of Mycoplasma, Rhizobiales, and Rickettsiales showed significantly higher counts of (AG)n dimeric simple sequence repeats (Di-SSRs) in the genomes, coding and non-coding regions than non Vampire Pathogens (N_VP). Regression analysis indicated a significant correlation between GC content and the span of (AG)n-Di-SSR variation. Gene Ontology (GO) terms with abundance of (AG)3-Di-SSRs shared by the VP strains were associated with purine nucleotide metabolism (FDR < 0.01), indicating an adaptation to the limited availability of purine and nucleo

SUBMITTER: Zou G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4516964 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature