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Evidence for lateral gene transfer between Archaea and Bacteria from genome sequence of Thermotoga maritima

Nature volume 399, pages 323–329 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

The 1,860,725-base-pair genome of Thermotoga maritima MSB8 contains 1,877 predicted coding regions, 1,014 (54%) of which have functional assignments and 863 (46%) of which are of unknown function. Genome analysis reveals numerous pathways involved in degradation of sugars and plant polysaccharides, and 108 genes that have orthologues only in the genomes of other thermophilic Eubacteria and Archaea. Of the Eubacteria sequenced to date, T.maritima has the highest percentage (24%) of genes that are most similar to archaeal genes. Eighty-one archaeal-like genes are clustered in 15 regions of the T. maritima genome that range in size from 4 to 20 kilobases. Conservation of gene order between T. maritima and Archaea in many of the clustered regions suggests that lateral gene transfer may have occurred between thermophilic Eubacteria and Archaea.

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Figure 1: Circular representation of the T.maritima MSB8 genome showing predicted-coding regions and other features.
Figure 3: Overview of metabolism and transport in T.maritima MSB8.
Figure 4: Phylogenetic pattern of the periplasmic SBP component of the oligopeptide transporters and other transporters present on the .T. maritima MSB8 genome.
Figure 5: Linear representation of the location of nine oligopeptide transporter operons on the T.maritima MSB8 genome.
Figure 2: Linear representation of the T.maritima MSB8 genome.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Biological and Environmental Research. We thank M. Heaney, J. Scott, D. Maas and B. Vincent for software and database support; R. Roberts, F. Kunst, and M. Simon for useful discussions; and R. Huber for providing T.maritima MSB8 cells.

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  1. the Institute for Genomic Research, 9712 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, 20850, Maryland, USA

    Karen E. Nelson, Rebecca A. Clayton, Steven R. Gill, Michelle L. Gwinn, Robert J. Dodson, Daniel H. Haft, Erin K. Hickey, Jeremy D. Peterson, William C. Nelson, Karen A. Ketchum, Lisa McDonald, Teresa R. Utterback, Joel A. Malek, Katja D. Linher, Mina M. Garrett, Ashley M. Stewart, Matthew D. Cotton, Matthew S. Pratt, Cheryl A. Phillips, Delwood Richardson, John Heidelberg, Granger G. Sutton, Robert D. Fleischmann, Jonathan A. Eisen, Owen White, Steven L. Salzberg, Hamilton O. Smith, J. Craig Venter & Claire M. Fraser

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Correspondence to Claire M. Fraser.

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Nelson, K., Clayton, R., Gill, S. et al. Evidence for lateral gene transfer between Archaea and Bacteria from genome sequence of Thermotoga maritima. Nature 399, 323–329 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/20601

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