ABI Innovation: Analysis of Operon Evolution Using an Even Driven Approach

俄亥俄州牛津市的迈阿密大学获得了一笔资助，用于研究细菌操纵子的进化。许多细菌蛋白质在相同的代谢途径中一起工作，和/或作为一个复合体。在许多情况下，编码这些蛋白质的基因聚集在染色体上，在一个共同的控制机制下，被转录成一个RNA分子，蛋白质从这个RNA分子被翻译。据估计，根据个体基因组的不同，5 - 25%的细菌基因位于操纵子中。工作将探索共转录基因簇的构建和/或破坏是否作为一系列可识别的连续事件发生。本研究将通过对大量细菌基因组的比较基因组分析，确定操纵子进化过程中发生的事件。这些事件包括基因获得、基因丢失、基因横向转移和基因组结构的不同类型的变化。将要回答的问题是：哪些是操纵子进化的决定性事件？在定义操作符随时间的变化时，是否存在或多或少占主导地位的事件？这些事件是普遍的，还是在不同的操纵子和不同的细菌属之间有所不同？如果是后者，哪些是不同的显性事件，我们能从研究它们中学到什么关于操纵子进化的知识？同时控制相关基因转录的能力是一种强大的遗传机制，在许多层面上影响细菌的生命和功能。了解操纵子如何进化将提供对最基本和最普遍的细菌遗传结构之一的深入了解。反过来，这将有助于我们更好地理解细菌的进化，细菌构成了最多样化和最具影响力的生命领域。这项研究为理解操纵子的进化提供了新的假设，并提出不同的操纵子可能是通过不同的机制进化而来的。这个项目，在计算科学和生物学的界面上，将培养本科生和研究生，包括支持少数民族教育和研究的项目。该项目的结果将通过一个描述操作子及其演化轨迹的可自由访问的数据库进行传播。

A grant is awarded to the university of Miami, Oxford Ohio for research into the evolution of bacterial operons. Many bacterial proteins work together in the same metabolic pathway, and/or as a complex. In many cases, the genes coding for these proteins are clustered together on the chromosome are under a common controlling mechanism, and are transcribed into a single RNA molecule from which the proteins are translated. It is estimated that, depending on the individual genome, between 5 and 25% of bacterial genes reside in operons. Work will explore whether the construction and/or destruction of clusters of co-transcribed genes takes place as a sequential series of events that can be identified. This research will identify the events that happen in operon evolution through comparative genome analyses of a large number of bacterial genomes. These events include gene gain, gene loss, lateral gene transfer, and different types of changes in the genomic structure. The questions which will be answered are: which are the determining events of operon evolution? Are there events that are more and less dominant in defining a change over time in operons? Are these events universal, or vary between operons and different bacterial genera? If the latter, which are the varying dominant events and what can we learn about operon evolution from studying them?The ability to simultaneously control the transcription of related genes is a strong genetic mechanism that influences bacterial life and functionality on many levels. Understanding how operons evolve will provide insight into one of the most basic and prevalent bacterial genetic structures. This, in turn, will help us better understand the evolution bacteria, which constitute the most diverse and influential of life's domains. This study enables the introduction of new hypotheses to understanding how operons evolve, and proposes that different operons may have evolved using different mechanisms that can be identified. This project, at the interface of computational science and biology, will train undergraduate and graduate students, including programs that support minority education and research. The result of this project will be disseminated through a freely-accessible database describing operons and their evolutionary trajectories.