Microbial Genome Sequencing: Sequencing of the Frankia CcI3 Genome, a Nitrogen-Fixing Plant Symbiotic Actinomycete

康涅狄格大学的David R.Benson博士及其合作者、加州大学劳伦斯·伯克利实验室的Pilar Francino博士和新汉普郡大学的Louis S.Tisa博士获得了一笔赠款，以建立Frankia sp.基因组的第一个完整核苷酸序列。HFPCcI3菌株。这组细菌的成员生活在某些木本植物的根瘤中，为植物的生长提供氮素。这些植物在世界亚北极、温带和热带地区的贫氮土壤上定居，并帮助修复受人类活动影响的土壤。Frankia菌株也表现出一些独特的特征。它们是丝状的，在孢子囊中产生孢子，并产生独特的细胞结构，称为“囊泡”，这种结构被专门诱导来容纳固定氮的生化机械。生物的DNA将被分离、纯化和提取，每个片段都将被测序，随后将通过最先进的分子和计算技术的组合将完整的遗传密码拼凑在一起。该项目产生的基因组序列将为研究植物共生和Frankia生物学的研究人员提供未来几年的丰富信息和工具。更广泛地说，这个项目将被整个科学界感受到，也将被能够通过一个以不同复杂程度构建的网站获取基因组的学校和大学感受到。当这些序列出现在公共数据库中时，更广泛的科学界，特别是那些研究包括抗生素生产细菌在内的相关细菌进化的人，将受益于这些序列。序列信息将在出现的同时加以利用，以激励大学现有的本科生和研究生课程。康涅狄格州和康涅狄格州新汉普郡。为了向学生介绍共生的生态意义，易于掌握的生物学概念将与来自基因组序列的见解整合在一个Frankia专用网站上，该网站专为高中和初学本科生创建，可在课堂上访问。

A grant has been awarded to Drs. David R. Benson of the University of Connecticut, and his collaborators, Dr. Pilar Francino at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, and Dr. Louis S. Tisa, University of New Hampshire to establish the first complete nucleotide sequence of the genome from Frankia sp. strain HFPCcI3. Members of this group of bacteria live in root nodules on certain woody plants and provide nitrogen for plant growth. The plants colonize nitrogen poor soils in subarctic, temperate and tropical regions of the world and help remediate soil impacted by human activity. Frankia strains also display some unique characteristics. They are filamentous, produce spores in sporangia and make unique cellular structures known as "vesicles" that are induced specifically to house the biochemical machinery that fixes nitrogen. The DNA of the organism will be isolated, purified and extracted and each fragment will be sequenced and subsequently the complete genetic code will be pieced together by a combination of state-of-the art molecular and computational techniques. The genome sequence generated in this project will provide researchers who study plant symbioses and Frankia biology, with a wealth of information and tools for years to come. More broadly, this project will be felt by the scientific community as a whole, and by schools and colleges who will be able to access the genome via a website constructed at different levels of complexity. The broader scientific community, especially those studying the evolution of related bacteria, including antibiotic-producing bacteria, will benefit by having access to the sequences as they emerge in public databases. Sequence information will be exploited concurrent with its emergence for stimulating existing undergraduate and graduate courses at the Univ. Connecticut and Univ. New Hampshire. To introduce students to the ecological significance of the symbiosis, readily grasped biological concepts will be integrated with insights derived from the genome sequence at a Frankia-dedicated website created to be accessible in classrooms for high school and beginning undergraduate students.