Evidence for lateral gene transfer between Archaea and Bacteria from genome sequence of Thermotoga maritima

The 1,860,725-base-pair genome of Thermotoga maritima MSB8 contains 1,877 p redicted coding regions, 1,014 (54%) of which have functional assignments a nd 863 (46%) of which are of unknown function. Genome analysis reveals nume rous pathways involved in degradation of sugars and plant polysaccharides, and 108 genes that have orthologues only in the genomes of other thermophil ic Eubacteria and Archaea. Of the Eubacteria sequenced to date, T. maritima has the highest percentage (24%) of genes that are most similar to archaea l genes. Eighty-one archaeal-like genes are clustered in 15 regions of the T. maritima genome that range in sire from 4 to 20 kilobases. Conservation of gene order between T. maritima and Archaea in many of the clustered regi ons suggests that lateral gene transfer may have occurred between thermophi lic Eubacteria and Archaea.