Bacteria's bare necessities

Credit: Courtesy of the J. Craig Venter Institute" /> Credit: Courtesy of the J. Craig Venter Institute The paper: J. Glass et al., "Essential genes of a minimal bacterium," Proc Natl Acad Sci, 103:425-30, 2006. (Cited in 65 papers) The finding: To identify the essential genes of Mycoplasma genitalium, the smallest free-living bacterium, John Glass an

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J. Glass et al., "Essential genes of a minimal bacterium," Proc Natl Acad Sci, 103:425-30, 2006. (Cited in 65 papers)

To identify the essential genes of Mycoplasma genitalium, the smallest free-living bacterium, John Glass and collaborators at the J. Craig Venter Institute used global transposon mutagenesis to disrupt individual genes. 382 out of 482 genes were found essential for the bacterial cells to function normally, which is greater than the 265-350 suggested from a previous study.

Pinning down what's essential in this organism will help researchers build synthetic bacteria, says Glass. These organisms might one day produce biofuels, clean up pollution, or function as living diagnostic tools.

Earlier this year, the Venter team announced that it had synthesized and assembled a complete M. genitalium genome - the largest synthetic DNA structure. They have also identified at least 11 more M. genitalium genes that are not essential to normal function. "We'll ...

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Meet the Author

Bob Grant
From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.
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