The Complete Genome and Proteome of Mycoplasma mobile (original) (raw)

  1. Jacob D. Jaffe1,2,
  2. Nicole Stange-Thomann3,
  3. Cherylyn Smith3,
  4. David DeCaprio3,
  5. Sheila Fisher3,
  6. Jonathan Butler3,
  7. Sarah Calvo3,
  8. Tim Elkins3,
  9. Michael G. FitzGerald3,
  10. Nabil Hafez3,
  11. Chinnappa D. Kodira3,
  12. John Major3,
  13. Shunguang Wang3,
  14. Jane Wilkinson3,
  15. Robert Nicol3,
  16. Chad Nusbaum3,
  17. Bruce Birren3,
  18. Howard C. Berg1,4, and
  19. George M. Church1,2,5
  20. 1 Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
  21. 2 Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
  22. 3 The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02141, USA
  23. 4 The Rowland Institute at Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02141, USA

Abstract

Although often considered “minimal” organisms, mycoplasmas show a wide range of diversity with respect to host environment, phenotypic traits, and pathogenicity. Here we report the complete genomic sequence and proteogenomic map for the piscine mycoplasma_Mycoplasma mobile_, noted for its robust gliding motility. For the first time, proteomic data are used in the primary annotation of a new genome, providing validation of expression for many of the predicted proteins. Several novel features were discovered including a long repeating unit of DNA of ∼2435 bp present in five complete copies that are shown to code for nearly identical yet uniquely expressed proteins. M. mobile has among the lowest DNA GC contents (24.9%) and most reduced set of tRNAs of any organism yet reported (28). Numerous instances of tandem duplication as well as lateral gene transfer are evident in the genome. The multiple available complete genome sequences for other motile and immotile mycoplasmas enabled us to use comparative genomic and phylogenetic methods to suggest several candidate genes that might be involved in motility. The results of these analyses leave open the possibility that gliding motility might have arisen independently more than once in the mycoplasma lineage.

Footnotes