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

俄亥俄州牛津的迈阿密大学获得了一笔赠款，用于研究细菌操纵子的进化。许多细菌蛋白在相同的代谢途径中一起工作，和/或作为复合物。在许多情况下，编码这些蛋白质的基因在染色体上聚集在一起，处于共同的控制机制下，并被转录成单个RNA分子，蛋白质从该RNA分子翻译。据估计，根据个体基因组，5%至25%的细菌基因存在于操纵子中。工作将探讨是否建设和/或共转录基因簇的破坏发生作为一个连续的一系列事件，可以确定。这项研究将通过对大量细菌基因组的比较基因组分析来确定操纵子进化中发生的事件。这些事件包括基因获得、基因丢失、横向基因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？是否有事件在定义操纵子随时间的变化时起或多或少的主导作用？这些事件是普遍的，还是在操纵子和不同的细菌属之间存在差异？如果是后者，哪些是不同的主导事件，我们可以从研究它们中了解操纵子的进化？同时控制相关基因转录的能力是一种强大的遗传机制，在许多水平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了解进化细菌，它们构成了生命领域中最多样化和最有影响力的领域。这项研究使得引入新的假设来理解操纵子是如何进化的，并提出不同的操纵子可能是使用不同的机制进化的。这个项目，在计算科学和生物学的接口，将培养本科生和研究生，包括支持少数民族教育和研究的方案。该项目的结果将通过一个描述操纵子及其进化轨迹的可自由访问的数据库传播。

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.