TY - JOUR
T1 - Fatty acid biosynthesis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis: lateral gene transfer, adaptive evolution, and gene duplication
AU - Kinsella, Rhoda J.
AU - Fitzpatrick, David A.
AU - Creevey, Christopher J
AU - McInerney, James O
N1 - Kinsella, R. J., Fitzpatrick, D. A., Creevey, C. J., McInerney, J. O. (2003). Fatty acid biosynthesis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis: lateral gene transfer, adaptive evolution, and gene duplication. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 100 (18), 10320-10325
PY - 2003/9/2
Y1 - 2003/9/2
N2 - Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a high GC Gram-positive member of the actinobacteria. The mycobacterial cell wall is composed of a complex assortment of lipids and is the interface between the bacterium and its environment. The biosynthesis of fatty acids plays an essential role in the formation of cell wall components, in particular mycolic acids, which have been targeted by many of the drugs used to treat M. tuberculosis infection. M. tuberculosis has approximately 250 genes involved in fatty acid metabolism, a much higher proportion than in any other organism. In silico methods have been used to compare the genome of M. tuberculosis CDC1551 to a database of 58 complete bacterial genomes. The resulting alignments were scanned for genes specifically involved in fatty acid biosynthetic pathway I. Phylogenetic analysis of these alignments was used to investigate horizontal gene transfer, gene duplication, and adaptive evolution. It was found that of the eight gene families examined, five of the phylogenies reconstructed suggest that the actinobacteria have a closer relationship with the alpha-proteobacteria than expected. This is either due to either an ancient transfer of genes or deep paralogy and subsequent retention of the genes in unrelated lineages. Additionally, adaptive evolution and gene duplication have been an influence in the evolution of the pathway. This study provides a key insight into how M. tuberculosis has developed its unique fatty acid synthetic abilities.
AB - Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a high GC Gram-positive member of the actinobacteria. The mycobacterial cell wall is composed of a complex assortment of lipids and is the interface between the bacterium and its environment. The biosynthesis of fatty acids plays an essential role in the formation of cell wall components, in particular mycolic acids, which have been targeted by many of the drugs used to treat M. tuberculosis infection. M. tuberculosis has approximately 250 genes involved in fatty acid metabolism, a much higher proportion than in any other organism. In silico methods have been used to compare the genome of M. tuberculosis CDC1551 to a database of 58 complete bacterial genomes. The resulting alignments were scanned for genes specifically involved in fatty acid biosynthetic pathway I. Phylogenetic analysis of these alignments was used to investigate horizontal gene transfer, gene duplication, and adaptive evolution. It was found that of the eight gene families examined, five of the phylogenies reconstructed suggest that the actinobacteria have a closer relationship with the alpha-proteobacteria than expected. This is either due to either an ancient transfer of genes or deep paralogy and subsequent retention of the genes in unrelated lineages. Additionally, adaptive evolution and gene duplication have been an influence in the evolution of the pathway. This study provides a key insight into how M. tuberculosis has developed its unique fatty acid synthetic abilities.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/2160/13076
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1737230100
DO - 10.1073/pnas.1737230100
M3 - Article
C2 - 12917487
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 100
SP - 10320
EP - 10325
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 18
ER -
