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In this project, the power of genome sequencing will be
harnessed to better understand the bacterial branches of
the Tree of Life. This "phylogenomics" project,
which will integrate genomic and phylogenetic studies, is
one segment of the National Science Foundation's "Assembling
the Tree of Life" program, announced this week.
The first complete genome sequence of a free-living organism
was determined at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR)
in 1995. In the years since then, complete genome sequences
have been  determined
for a wide diversity of species including bacterial pathogens,
extremophiles, protistan parasites, plants, animals, and fungi.
While these include representatives from each of the three major
branches in the tree of life (the Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya)
only a limited subset of each of these groups has been studied.
In particular, despite the vast diversity of bacterial species
and their importance as pathogens and the foundation of many
ecosystems, many major groups have been neglected.
The goal of this project, a collaboration between TIGR and
the Center of Marine Biotechnology (COMB), is to fill some
of the gaps in our knowledge in the bacterial domain. Specifically,
this project involves sequencing the complete genomes of
representative strains of eight bacterial phyla. Each phylum
represents a major branch in the "Tree of Life"
and the phyla that were selected (Chrysiogenetes, Deferribacteres,
Dictyoglomus, Nitrospira, Coprothermobacter, Synergistes,
Thermodesulfobacteria, and Thermomicrobium) have not yet
been explored using whole genome sequencing.
The data from these genome sequences will then be used
- to improve the understanding of the complex phylogenetic
relationships among major bacterial phyla
- to provide information and resources that will allow
scientists to examine the evolutionary relationships within
these poorly understood phyla in more depth than is now
possible and
- to launch experimental studies on the biology and physiology
of organisms in these phyla.
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Funded by NSF Tree of Life
Program |
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