Bacteria with Multiple Chromosomes : Interplay between genome architecture and cell physiology – BMC

Nous avons mis au point des outils de recombinaison specifique de site qui permettent de relocaliser des fragments de toute taille ou de fusionner les chromosomes bacteriens.

Nous avons réussi a créer des dérivés de V. cholerae ayant des chromosomes remaniés, et nous sommes en train d’étudier leur propriétés

Mieux comprendre ce qui fait le succès de ce genre bactérien et en particulier des espèces pathogènes.

Val, M.E., Skovgaard, O., Ducos-Galand, M., Bland, M.J., and Mazel, D. (2012). Genome engineering in Vibrio cholerae: a feasible approach to address biological issues. PLoS Genet 8, e1002472.
Dans cet article nous décrivons les premiers outils mis au point et les premières souches bactériennes ayant des chromosomes remaniés

Bacteria with Multiple Chromosomes :Interplay between genome architecture and cell physiology


Our project aims at determining the selective advantage(s) brought by the multichromosome organization of the Vibrio genomes. The project will establish which mechanisms are at the root of the difference in terms of gene content and organization of the two chromosomes of Vibrio species.
We will perform a set of extensive alterations of the bi-chromosomal structure of V. cholerae genome. We will fuse the two chromosomes, relocate chromosomal segments, and modify the chromosome replication initiation machinery. We will also determine the physical organization of the two replicons and explore their spatial proximity and architecture in order to understand their difference in term of content and physical properties.
To complete these different structural studies, we will determine precisely to what extent these massive genome structure modifications affect the general transcription pattern of the corresponding V. cholerae N16961 variants compared to the wild-type. In order to comprehensively and quantitatively assess their extent, we will use the RNA-seq approach, through direct high-throughput Illumina sequencing of cDNAs, an approach recently successfully reported for bacterial transcriptomes. These transcription data will allow us to understand the phenotypic properties of the variants, but they will also help us to precisely establish the respective contribution of the different hypothetical selective advantages conferred by the multiple chromosome organization, particularly in bacteria from the Vibrio genus.