Mycoplasma genitalium genome

Gibson DG et al (2008) Complete chemical synthesis, assembly, and cloning of a Mycoplasma genitalium genome. Science 319 1215-1220... 

Balasubramanian S et al. Proteomics of Mycoplasma genitalium identification and characterization of unannotated and atypical proteins in a small model genome. Nucleic Acids Res 2000 28 3075-3082. 

Some bacteria possess uptake systems of all the ABC types mentioned in this chapter. For example, the pathogenic microbe H. influenzae is able to sequester iron via siderophore-type systems, ferric iron systems, and metal-type systems. Similarly, strains of Yersinia use multiple routes to take up iron bound to siderophores (e.g. yersiniabactin) and haem, as well as unliganded iron by the ferric-iron-type Yfu system and the metal-type Yfe system. No iron-uptake systems of the ABC transporter type were identified in the genomes of Mycoplasma genitalium and Mycoplasma pneumoniae. In contrast, among the 19 ABC transporters of the related species Ureaplasma urealyticum six presumed different Fe3+ and/or haem transporters were identified [228]. 

Mycoplasma genitalium and Buchneva are considered the simplest cells, with a genome containing less than 500 coding regions. These are, however, parasites and the next step of complexity concerns microbes with thousands of expressed proteins, which catalyze thousands of reactions more or less simultaneously within the same tiny compartment - a maze of enormous complexity. However, precisely this complexity elicits the question of whether such complexity is really essential for life - or whether instead cellular life might be possible with a much smaller number of components. 

Fischer, D. and D. Eisenberg, Assigning folds to the proteins encoded by the genome of Mycoplasma genitalium. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 1997. 94(22) p. 11929-34. 

The Mycoplasma Genome The complete genome of the simplest bacterium known, Mycoplasma genitalium, is a circular DNA molecule with 580,070 bp. Calculate the molecular weight and contour length (when relaxed) of this molecule. What is Lko, for the Mycoplasma chromosome If tr = -0.06, what is Lk1... 

We are still dangerously ignorant of the complexity of the microbial world, which both threatens us with diseases and sustains our environment. We do have complete genome sequences for more than 60 different bacteria with hundreds more expected within a few years. They contain from 0.58 Mbp Mycoplasma genitalium) to 8.7 Mbp for the antibiotic-producing Streptomyces coelicolor, a size shared by the legume symbiont Bradyzhizobium japonicum ... 

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