Microbial Genome Sequencing: Genomics of Life at Extreme Pressure

地球上最偏远的地区之一是深海海沟环境。一个在深海微生物学、分子生物学、全基因组测序、注释和比较基因组学方面具有专长的科学家组成的联合体已经聚集在一起，以从这种栖息地获得微生物的基因组序列并对其进行表征。这种微生物名为Colwell lia菌株mt41，是从最深的海沟马里亚纳海沟中分离出来的，深度为10476米。MT41是迄今为止分离出的最适应高压(压电)细菌或古生菌之一，需要每平方英寸(数千万帕斯卡)数千磅的压力才能生长，首选的静水压力约为每平方英寸15,000磅(~100兆帕)。Mt41与最近完成基因组测序的适应大气压的致病链球菌34H有密切关系。Mt41和34h之间的基因组比较，以及mt41和其他海洋微生物之间的比较，可能会发现许多基因特征是水生生物进化所必需的，以及深海生活的其他方面。基因组序列还将促进未来的功能基因组研究，以及在促进低体积变化的条件下对酶结构和催化的分析。拟议研究的更广泛影响将最直接地惠及本科生和研究生教育。这一提议产生的基因组序列数据将被用作主要的案例研究，以推动斯克里普斯海洋研究所的比较基因组学课程。在基因组研究所为学生举办的一个研讨会也将使用mt41的基因组序列作为基因组学研究的“真实世界”范例。

One of the most remote regions on Earth is that of the deep-ocean trench environment. A consortium of scientists with expertise in deep-sea microbiology, molecular biology, whole-genome sequencing, annotation and comparative genomics has been assembled to obtain and characterize the genome sequence of a microbe from such a habitat. The organism, Colwellia strain MT41, was isolated from the deepest ocean trench, the Mariana Trench, at a depth of 10,476 meters. MT41 is among the most high-pressure-adapted (piezophilic) Bacteria or Archaea ever isolated requiring pressures of thousands of pounds per square inch (tens of megapascals) to grow, with a preferred pressure of approximately 15,000 pounds per square inch (~100 MPa) of hydrostatic pressure. MT41 is closely related to the atmospheric pressure-adapted Colwellia psychrerythraea 34H, whose genome sequence has recently been completed. Genome comparisons between MT41 and 34H, as well as between MT41 and other oceanic microbes, are likely to suggest many gene features required for the evolution of piezophily, and other aspects of life in the abyss. The genome sequence will also facilitate future functional genomic studies and analyses of enzyme structure and catalysis under conditions promoting low volume change. The broader impacts of the proposed study will most directly benefit undergraduate and graduate education. The genome sequence data generated by this proposal will be used as a primary case study to drive a comparative genomics course at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. A workshop for students given at The Institute for Genomic Research will also use the genome sequences of MT41 as a "real-world" example for the study of genomics.