酵母线粒体基因组进化与最小线粒体基因组设计

线粒体是真核生物必要的细胞器，含有与细胞核DNA相对独立又相互依赖的遗传体系。随着高通量测序技术的发展，越来越多物种已完成线粒体基因组测序，这为研究线粒体的起源与进化提供了数据基础。前期研究表明不同酵母种线粒体基因组的大小以及其他属性存在显著差异。本项目在前期研究基础上，结合已发表的酵母属物种的线粒体基因组，拟补充部分酵母属的线粒体基因组测序，然后通过比较基因组学的方法，进行以下三个方面的研究：1) 推断经过全基因组重复事件后，酵母属祖先进化到酿酒酵母的过程中线粒体基因组的基本属性，包括基因组大小、各类型基因数量、功能基因顺序等的进化规律。2) 研究线粒体基因组的基本属性进化的内在机制，特别是和核基因组以及表型等的关联。3) 确认酵母属线粒体基因组中高保守区域，并设计酵母最小线粒体基因组。本项目不仅为线粒体基因组进化的研究提供新知识；同时为线粒体合成改造提供经验上的指导。

The mitochondrion is an essential organelle in most eukaryotic cells, and it contains the own genetic system which also shows sophisticated interactions with chromosomal genomes. With the development of high-throughput sequencing technology, more and more sequenced mitochondrial genomes provided the datasets for the analysis of mitochondrion evolution. Previous research has revealed a wide divergence in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) scale or other characteristics across yeast species. Based on the previous studies and the public mtDNA of yeast species, we plan to sequence two additional yeast mtDNA, and compare the yeast genomes from three aspects as following: 1) Inferring mtDNA characteristics (e.g., scale, gene order and gene number) in the process from yeast ancestor to extant yeasts. 2) Exploring the internal mechanism of mitochondrial genome evolution, especially the linkage with nuclear genomes and phenotypes. 3) Exploring the highly conserved area of mtDNA, and designing the minimal mitochondrial genome. This project will provide the evolution of mitochondrial genomes in eukaryotic organism with new knowledge. Moreover, it will provide fundamental knowledge for rational design of yeast mitochondrial genome in synthetic biology.