Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS04 Environmental Microbial Genomics (Environmental and Disciplinary Connections)

Date: Wednesday, February 14, 2001, Time: 3:00:00 PM

Location: Brazos

Erdner, D, L, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA, de42@prism.gatech.edu

Eisen, J, , The Institute for Genomic Research, Rockville, USA, jeisen@tigr.org

Sobecky, P, A, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA, patricia.sobecky@biology.gatech.edu

WHOLE PLASMID SEQUENCING AND EXPRESSION ANALYSIS OF CRYPTIC MARINE PLASMIDS

Plasmid-mediated gene transfer is a principal mechanism for the horizontal movement of bacterial genes, thereby contributing to genetic diversity. Plasmids allow rapid adaptation to changing environmental conditions via the carriage and dissemination of genes for advantageous traits, such as heavy metal resistance or xenobiotic degradation. Plasmids are found in virtually all environments and occur at a significant frequency in bacteria isolated from coastal marine sediments. However, the majority of plasmids isolated from these bacteria are ‘cryptic’, i.e. they carry no readily identified phenotypic traits. To elucidate the content and putative function of these cryptic marine plasmids we have sequenced several marine bacterial plasmids ranging in size from 20kb to greater than 100kb. A minority of the plasmid sequences match known genes, such as those involved in conjugative transfer, transposition, metabolism and DNA repair. The majority of the sequences show no match to any genes in the available databases. We are currently examining the expression of plasmid-encoded genes in an effort to determine their role in cellular function and adaptation.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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