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Title: Phylum-wide comparative genomics unravel the diversity of secondary metabolism in Cyanobacteria

Journal Article · · BMC Genomics
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [2];  [5];  [2];  [6];  [4]
  1. Lab. d'Analyse Bioinformatique en Genomique et Metabolisme, Evry (France)
  2. Univ. of Helsinki, Helsinki (Finland)
  3. Aix-Marseille Univ., Marseille (France)
  4. Institut Pasteur, Paris (France)
  5. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)
  6. Eidgenoessiche Technische Hochschule (ETH), Zurich (Switzerland)

Cyanobacteria are an ancient lineage of photosynthetic bacteria from which hundreds of natural products have been described, including many notorious toxins but also potent natural products of interest to the pharmaceutical and biotechnological industries. Many of these compounds are the products of non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) or polyketide synthase (PKS) pathways. However, current understanding of the diversification of these pathways is largely based on the chemical structure of the bioactive compounds, while the evolutionary forces driving their remarkable chemical diversity are poorly understood. We carried out a phylum-wide investigation of genetic diversification of the cyanobacterial NRPS and PKS pathways for the production of bioactive compounds. 452 NRPS and PKS gene clusters were identified from 89 cyanobacterial genomes, revealing a clear burst in late-branching lineages. Our genomic analysis further grouped the clusters into 286 highly diversified cluster families (CF) of pathways. Some CFs appeared vertically inherited, while others presented a more complex evolutionary history. Only a few horizontal gene transfers were evidenced amongst strongly conserved CFs in the phylum, while several others have undergone drastic gene shuffling events, which could result in the observed diversification of the pathways. In addition to toxin production, several NRPS and PKS gene clusters are devoted to important cellular processes of these bacteria such as nitrogen fixation and iron uptake. The majority of the biosynthetic clusters identified here have unknown end products, highlighting the power of genome mining for the discovery of new natural products.

Research Organization:
University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1221960
Journal Information:
BMC Genomics, Vol. 15, Issue 1; ISSN 1471-2164
Publisher:
SpringerCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 111 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cyanobacterial Siderophores—Physiology, Structure, Biosynthesis, and Applications journal May 2019
Discovery Strategies of Bioactive Compounds Synthesized by Nonribosomal Peptide Synthetases and Type-I Polyketide Synthases Derived from Marine Microbiomes journal April 2016
Trichophycin A, a Cytotoxic Linear Polyketide Isolated from a Trichodesmium thiebautii Bloom journal January 2017
Cyanobacteria and the Great Oxidation Event: evidence from genes and fossils journal August 2015
Impacts of microbial assemblage and environmental conditions on the distribution of anatoxin-a producing cyanobacteria within a river network journal February 2019
A Novel Cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 11802 has Distinct Genomic and Metabolomic Characteristics Compared to its Neighbor PCC 11801 journal January 2020
Evolution of Anabaenopeptin Peptide Structural Variability in the Cyanobacterium Planktothrix journal February 2017
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Modules of co-occurrence in the cyanobacterial pan-genome reveal functional associations between groups of ortholog genes journal March 2018
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Data from: Phylum-wide comparative genomics unravel the diversity of secondary metabolism in Cyanobacteria dataset January 2015
Geosmin Attracts Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes to Oviposition Sites journal January 2020
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Genome Features and Biochemical Characteristics of a Robust, Fast Growing and Naturally Transformable Cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 11801 Isolated from India journal November 2018
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