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- Ye, Weihua, et al.
(författare)
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Folded Alpha Helical Putative New Proteins from Apilactobacillus kunkeei
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of Molecular Biology. - : Elsevier. - 0022-2836 .- 1089-8638. ; 436:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The emergence of new proteins is a central question in biology. Most tertiary protein folds known to date appear to have an ancient origin, but it is clear from bioinformatic analyses that new proteins continuously emerge in all organismal groups. However, there is a paucity of experimental data on new proteins regarding their structure and biophysical properties. We performed a detailed phylogenetic analysis and identified 48 putative open reading frames in the honeybee -associated bacterium Apilactobacillus kunkeei for which no or few homologs could be identified in closely -related species, suggesting that they could be relatively new on an evolutionary time scale and represent recently evolved proteins. Using circular dichroism-, fluorescence- and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy we investigated six of these proteins and show that they are not intrinsically disordered, but populate alpha -helical dominated folded states with relatively low thermodynamic stability (0-3 kcal/mol). The NMR and biophysical data demonstrate that small new proteins readily adopt simple folded conformations suggesting that more complex tertiary structures can be continuously re -invented during evolution by fusion of such simple secondary structure elements. These findings have implications for the general view on protein evolution, where de novo emergence of folded proteins may be a common event.
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2. |
- Alsmark, Cecilia M., et al.
(författare)
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The louse-borne human pathogen Bartonella quintana is a genomic derivative of the zoonotic agent Bartonella henselae
- 2004
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 101:26, s. 9716-9721
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the complete genomes of two human pathogens, Bartonella quintana (1,581,384 bp) and Bartonella henselae (1,931,047 bp). The two pathogens maintain several similarities in being transmitted by insect vectors, using mammalian reservoirs, infecting similar cell types (endothelial cells and erythrocytes) and causing vasculoproliferative changes in immunocompromised hosts. A primary difference between the two pathogens is their reservoir ecology. Whereas B. quintana is a specialist, using only the human as a reservoir, B. henselae is more promiscuous and is frequently isolated from both cats and humans. Genome comparison elucidated a high degree of overall similarity with major differences being B. henselae specific genomic islands coding for filamentous hemagglutinin, and evidence of extensive genome reduction in B. quintana, reminiscent of that found in Rickettsia prowazekii. Both genomes are reduced versions of chromosome I from the highly related pathogen Brucella melitensis. Flanked by two rRNA operons is a segment with similarity to genes located on chromosome II of B. melitensis, suggesting that it was acquired by integration of megareplicon DNA in a common ancestor of the two Bartonella species. Comparisons of the vector-host ecology of these organisms suggest that the utilization of host-restricted vectors is associated with accelerated rates of genome degradation and may explain why human pathogens transmitted by specialist vectors are outnumbered by zoonotic agents, which use vectors of broad host ranges.
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4. |
- Andersson, Siv G E, et al.
(författare)
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Comparative genomics of microbial pathogens and symbionts.
- 2002
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Ingår i: Bioinformatics. - 1367-4803 .- 1367-4811. ; 18 Suppl 2, s. S17-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We are interested in quantifying the contribution of gene acquisition, loss, expansion and rearrangements to the evolution of microbial genomes. Here, we discuss factors influencing microbial genome divergence based on pair-wise genome comparisons of closely related strains and species with different lifestyles. A particular focus is on intracellular pathogens and symbionts of the genera Rickettsia, Bartonella and BUCHNERA: Extensive gene loss and restricted access to phage and plasmid pools may provide an explanation for why single host pathogens are normally less successful than multihost pathogens. We note that species-specific genes tend to be shorter than orthologous genes, suggesting that a fraction of these may represent fossil-orfs, as also supported by multiple sequence alignments among species. The results of our genome comparisons are placed in the context of phylogenomic analyses of alpha and gamma proteobacteria. We highlight artefacts caused by different rates and patterns of mutations, suggesting that atypical phylogenetic placements can not a priori be taken as evidence for horizontal gene transfer events. The flexibility in genome structure among free-living microbes contrasts with the extreme stability observed for the small genomes of aphid endosymbionts, in which no rearrangements or inflow of genetic material have occurred during the past 50 millions years (1). Taken together, the results suggest that genomic stability correlate with the content of repeated sequences and mobile genetic elements, and thereby indirectly with bacterial lifestyles.
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6. |
- Andersson, Siv G. E.
(författare)
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Stress management strategies in single bacterial cells
- 2016
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 113:15, s. 3921-3923
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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7. |
- Ardell, David H., et al.
(författare)
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TFAM detects co-evolution of tRNA identity rules with lateral transfer of histidyl-tRNA sythetase
- 2006
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Ingår i: Nucleic Acids Research. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0305-1048 .- 1362-4962. ; 34:3, s. 893-904
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present TFAM, an automated, statistical method to classify the identity of tRNAs. TFAM, currently optimized for bacteria, classifies initiator tRNAs and predicts the charging identity of both typical and atypical tRNAs such as suppressors with high confidence. We show statistical evidence for extensive variation in tRNA identity determinants among bacterial genomes due to variation in overall tDNA base content. With TFAM we have detected the first case of eukaryotic-like tRNA identity rules in bacteria. An alpha-proteobacterial clade encompassing Rhizobiales, Caulobacter crescentus and Silicibacter pomeroyi, unlike a sister clade containing the Rickettsiales, Zymomonas mobilis and Gluconobacter oxydans, uses the eukaryotic identity element A73 instead of the highly conserved prokaryotic element C73. We confirm divergence of bacterial histidylation rules by demonstrating perfect covariation of alpha-proteobacterial tRNA(His) acceptor stems and residues in the motif IIb tRNA-binding pocket of their histidyl-tRNA synthetases (HisRS). Phylogenomic analysis supports lateral transfer of a eukaryotic-like HisRS into the alpha-proteobacteria followed by in situ adaptation of the bacterial tDNA(His) and identity rule divergence. Our results demonstrate that TFAM is an effective tool for the bioinformatics, comparative genomics and evolutionary study of tRNA identity.
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9. |
- Berglund, Eva C., et al.
(författare)
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Genome dynamics of Bartonella grahamii in micro-populations of woodland rodents
- 2010
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Ingår i: BMC Genomics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2164. ; 11, s. 152-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Rodents represent a high-risk reservoir for the emergence of new human pathogens. The recent completion of the 2.3 Mb genome of Bartonella grahamii, one of the most prevalent blood-borne bacteria in wild rodents, revealed a higher abundance of genes for host-cell interaction systems than in the genomes of closely related human pathogens. The sequence variability within the global B. grahamii population was recently investigated by multi locus sequence typing, but no study on the variability of putative host-cell interaction systems has been performed. Results: To study the population dynamics of B. grahamii, we analyzed the genomic diversity on a whole-genome scale of 27 B. grahamii strains isolated from four different species of wild rodents in three geographic locations separated by less than 30 km. Even using highly variable spacer regions, only 3 sequence types were identified. This low sequence diversity contrasted with a high variability in genome content. Microarray comparative genome hybridizations identified genes for outer surface proteins, including a repeated region containing the fha gene for filamentous hemaggluttinin and a plasmid that encodes a type IV secretion system, as the most variable. The estimated generation times in liquid culture medium for a subset of strains ranged from 5 to 22 hours, but did not correlate with sequence type or presence/absence patterns of the fha gene or the plasmid. Conclusion: Our study has revealed a geographic microstructure of B. grahamii in wild rodents. Despite near-identity in nucleotide sequence, major differences were observed in gene presence/absence patterns that did not segregate with host species. This suggests that genetically similar strains can infect a range of different hosts.
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10. |
- Berglund, Eva C., et al.
(författare)
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Rapid diversification by recombination in Bartonella grahamii from wild rodents in Asia contrasts with low levels of genomic divergence in Northern Europe and America
- 2010
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 19:11, s. 2241-2255
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Bartonella is a genus of vector-borne bacteria that infect the red blood cells of mammals, and includes several human-specific and zoonotic pathogens. Bartonella grahamii has a wide host range and is one of the most prevalent Bartonella species in wild rodents. We studied the population structure, genome content and genome plasticity of a collection of 26 B. grahamii isolates from 11 species of wild rodents in seven countries. We found strong geographic patterns, high recombination frequencies and large variations in genome size in B. grahamii compared with previously analysed cat- and human-associated Bartonella species. The extent of sequence divergence in B. grahamii populations was markedly lower in Europe and North America than in Asia, and several recombination events were predicted between the Asian strains. We discuss environmental and demographic factors that may underlie the observed differences.
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