2022/08/26 by Marios Nikolaidis, Andrew Hesketh, Dimitris Mossialos +3 · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Bacillus and Francisella bacterial research #Identification and Quantification in Food #Bacterial Genetics and Biotechnology
paper · pdf · doi:10.3390/microorganisms10091720
openalex publication_date 2022/08/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
By integrating phylogenomic and comparative analyses of 1104 high-quality genome sequences, we identify the core proteins and the lineage-specific fingerprint proteins of the various evolutionary clusters (clades/groups/species) of the Bacillus genus. As fingerprints, we denote those core proteins of a certain lineage that are present only in that particular lineage and absent in any other Bacillus lineage. Thus, these lineage-specific fingerprints are expected to be involved in particular adaptations of that lineage. Intriguingly, with a few notable exceptions, the majority of the Bacillus species demonstrate a rather low number of species-specific fingerprints, with the majority of them being of unknown function. Therefore, species-specific adaptations are mostly attributed to highly unstable (in evolutionary terms) accessory proteomes and possibly to changes at the gene regulation level. A series of comparative analyses consistently demonstrated that the progenitor of the Cereus Clade underwent an extensive genomic expansion of chromosomal protein-coding genes. In addition, the majority (76–82%) of the B. subtilis proteins that are essential or play a significant role in sporulation have close homologs in most species of both the Subtilis and the Cereus Clades. Finally, the identification of lineage-specific fingerprints by this study may allow for the future development of highly specific vaccines, therapeutic molecules, or rapid and low-cost molecular tests for species identification.