The complete genome sequence of the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis

Abstract

Bacillus subtilis is the best-characterized member of the Gram-positive bacteria. Its genome of 4,214,810 base pairs comprises 4,100 protein-coding genes. Of these protein-coding genes, 53% are represented once, while a quarter of the genome corresponds to several gene families that have been greatly expanded by gene duplication, the largest family containing 77 putative ATP-binding transport proteins. In addition, a large proportion of the genetic capacity is devoted to the utilization of a variety of carbon sources, including many plant-derived molecules. The identification of five signal peptidase genes, as well as several genes for components of the secretion apparatus, is important given the capacity of Bacillus strains to secrete large amounts of industrially important enzymes. Many of the genes are involved in the synthesis of secondary metabolites, including antibiotics, that are more typically associated with Streptomyces species. The genome contains at least ten prophages or remnants of prophages, indicating that bacteriophage infection has played an important evolutionary role in horizontal gene transfer, in particular in the propagation of bacterial pathogenesis.

Purification and characterization of ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase encoded by Bacillus subtilis yumC

“…1) were determined. The sequences of ADLKTQILDAYNFRHATKEF and MREDTKVYDITIIGGGP agreed completely with the amino acid sequences of proteins deduced from the yfkO and yumC genes (Kunst et al 1997), respectively.…”

“…Bacillus subtilis is a gram-positive bacterium whose whole genome sequence has been elucidated (Kunst et al 1997). Although the Fd was purified from E. coli cells overexpressing B. subtilis Fd gene (fer) and shown to support reduction of cytochrome P450 (BioI), the enzymes responsible for reduction of Fd have not yet been identified (Green et al 2003).…”

Genomic Exploration of the Hemiascomycetous Yeasts: 18. Comparative analysis of chromosome maps and synteny withSaccharomyces cerevisiae

“…Part of the redundancy is attributable to functional selection. In B. subtilis, for example, the number of genes encoding demonstrated or putative ATP-binding transporters is very high [2], consistent with its habitat. It is much lower in an intracellular pathogen such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis [4].…”

Drug repurposing screens and synergistic drug‐combinations for infectious diseases

“…Phenotypic screening has not been extensively used in high‐throughput screens against large collections of compounds for antibiotic drug discovery as the mechanism‐based drug screening was the main approach in last two decades. The discovery of new bacterial genes and resistance plasmids further fuelled this target‐based drug discovery effort, as well as the completion of bacterial genome mapping in the middle of 1990s (Kunst et al , 1997). The phenotypic approach measures an actual biological response.…”