Kinsella, Rhoda J. and Fitzpatrick, David A. and Creevey, Christopher J. and McInerney, James O. (2003) Fatty acid biosynthesis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Lateral gene transfer, adaptive evolution, and gene duplication. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100 (18). pp. 10320-10325. ISSN 1091-6490

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Abstract

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a high GC Gram-positive member of the actinobacteria. The mycobacterial cell wall is composed of a complex assortment of lipids and is the interface between the bacterium and its environment. The biosynthesis of fatty acids plays an essential role in the formation of cell wall components, in particular mycolic acids, which have been targeted by many of the drugs used to treat M. tuberculosis infection. M. tuberculosis has approximately 250 genes involved in fatty acid metabolism, a much higher proportion than in any other organism. In silico methods have been used to compare the genome of M. tuberculosis CDC1551 to a database of 58 complete bacterial genomes. The resulting alignments were scanned for genes specifically involved in fatty acid biosynthetic pathway I. Phylogenetic analysis of these alignments was used to investigate horizontal gene transfer, gene duplication, and adaptive evolution. It was found that of the eight gene families examined, five of the phylogenies reconstructed suggest that the actinobacteria have a closer relationship with the alpha-proteobacteria than expected. This is either due to either an ancient transfer of genes or deep paralogy and subsequent retention of the genes in unrelated lineages. Additionally, adaptive evolution and gene duplication have been an influence in the evolution of the pathway. This study provides a key insight into how M. tuberculosis has developed its unique fatty acid synthetic abilities.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Fatty acid; biosynthesis; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Lateral gene transfer; adaptive evolution; gene duplication;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Biology
Item ID:	6261
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1737230100
Depositing User:	David Fitzpatrick
Date Deposited:	16 Jul 2015 11:43
Journal or Publication Title:	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher:	National Academy of Sciences
Refereed:	Yes
Funders:	Higher Education Authority (HEA), Health Research Board (HRB)
URI:
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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