Effective cosmopolitans
The genome of the peculiar oceanic bacterium Pelagibacter ubique has been sequenced and is presented in the current issue of Science. The bug contributes massivly to the biomass in the oceans, owing in part to his effective genome markup.
No phages or transposons, few paralogs and no recent duplications or pseudogenes were found but the ability to synthesize most metabolites, including the 20 aminoacids. This bug must be treasure trove if you are studying metabolic networks. All is coded neatly into 1354 genes separated by a median spacer of only 3 nucleotides (!), making P. ubique the smallest free-living microorganism.
Somehow, I like this fellow.
No phages or transposons, few paralogs and no recent duplications or pseudogenes were found but the ability to synthesize most metabolites, including the 20 aminoacids. This bug must be treasure trove if you are studying metabolic networks. All is coded neatly into 1354 genes separated by a median spacer of only 3 nucleotides (!), making P. ubique the smallest free-living microorganism.
Somehow, I like this fellow.
spitshine - 2005-08-19 11:10