THE COMPLETE GENOME SEQUENCE OF THE GRAM-POSITIVE BACTERIUM BACILLUS-SUBTILIS

Bacillus subtilis Is the best-characterized member of the Gram-positiv e bacteria. Its genome of 4,214,810 base pairs comprises 4,100 protein -coding genes. Of these protein-coding genes, 53% are represented once , while a quarter of the genome corresponds to several gene families t hat have been greatly expanded by gene duplication, the largest family containing 77 putative ATP-binding transport proteins. In addition, a large proportion of the genetic capacity is devoted to the utilizatio n of a variety of carbon sources, including many plant-derived molecul es. The identification of five signal peptidase genes, as well as seve ral genes for components of the secretion apparatus, is important give n the capacity of Bacillus strains to secrete large amounts of industr ially important enzymes. Many of the genes are involved in the synthes is of secondary metabolites, Including antibiotics, that are more typi cally associated with Streptomyces species. The genome contains at lea st ten prophages or remnants of prophages, indicating that bacteriopha ge Infection has played an important evolutionary role in horizontal g ene transfer, in particular In the propagation of bacterial pathogenes is.