Bacillus sabtilis genome technology: Designing of bacterial genomes by horizontally transferring large-sized DNAs.
Mitsuhiro Itaya
Mitsubishi Kasei Institute of Life Sciences, 11 Minamiooya, Machida-shi, Tokyo 194-8511, Japan
Large DNA segments can traverse over bacterial species in nature. We developed systematic horizontal transfer of giant DNAs from various species to a competent developing bacterium Bacillus subtilis Marburg strain.
Two examples are presented, one using DNA from closely related species Bacillus natto and the other using DNA from a Gram-negative thermophile, Thermus thermophilus. B. natto ferments boiled soybeans at unsalted conditions to produce natto, a traditional food for Japanese. This trait to produce natto was gradually transferred to B. subtilis that never produced natto. This result was interpreted as assembly of natto-related genes in the B. subtilis genome by yielding mosaic genome of B. subtilis and B. natto.
Similarly, the thermophilic DNA with a high guanine and cytosine content (approx. 70%) was transferred in the B. subtilis genome that has lower G + C content (43%). The contiguous transferred 220 kb DNA was stably maintained as part of the B. subtilis genome. Rapid and efficient assembly of number of genes will lead to high-throughput genome evolution.
