Atack John M, Tan Aimee, Bakaletz Lauren O, Jennings Michael P, Seib Kate L
Institute for Glycomics, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, 4222, Australia.
Institute for Glycomics, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, 4222, Australia.
Trends Microbiol. 2018 Aug;26(8):715-726. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2018.01.008. Epub 2018 Feb 13.
A wide variety of bacterial pathogens express phase-variable DNA methyltransferases that control expression of multiple genes via epigenetic mechanisms. These randomly switching regulons - phasevarions - regulate genes involved in pathogenesis, host adaptation, and antibiotic resistance. Individual phase-variable genes can be identified in silico as they contain easily recognized features such as simple sequence repeats (SSRs) or inverted repeats (IRs) that mediate the random switching of expression. Conversely, phasevarion-controlled genes do not contain any easily identifiable features. The study of DNA methyltransferase specificity using Single-Molecule, Real-Time (SMRT) sequencing and methylome analysis has rapidly advanced the analysis of phasevarions by allowing methylomics to be combined with whole-transcriptome/proteome analysis to comprehensively characterize these systems in a number of important bacterial pathogens.
多种细菌病原体表达可通过表观遗传机制控制多个基因表达的相变DNA甲基转移酶。这些随机切换的调控子——相变调控子——调控参与致病、宿主适应和抗生素耐药性的基因。单个相变可变基因可在计算机上识别，因为它们包含易于识别的特征，如介导表达随机切换的简单序列重复（SSR）或反向重复（IR）。相反，相变调控子控制的基因不包含任何易于识别的特征。使用单分子实时（SMRT）测序和甲基化组分析来研究DNA甲基转移酶特异性，通过将甲基化组学与全转录组/蛋白质组分析相结合，在许多重要细菌病原体中全面表征这些系统，从而迅速推进了相变调控子的分析。
