Gut Isolate

Habitat

Co-evolved symbiotic relationships between Bacteria and multi-cellular organisms are a prominent feature of life on Earth. The ecosystem of distal small intestine of humans provides an experimental opportunity to address general questions about symbiosis and ecogenomics. According to the most comprehensive 16S rDNA survey to-date [Science 308:1635 (2005)], this complex ecosystem is composed of ~400 phylotypes, with the vast majority of which belong to two divisions of Bacteria: the Bacteroidetes (48%) and the Firmicutes (51%). Members of the Bacteroides Genus in the Bacteroidetes Division are one of the most populous groups of bacteria found in human digestive tracts.

Biology

Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron type strain ATCC 29148 (BT) has been used as a model to examine symbiotic host-bacterial interactions from the perspective of the host (through functional genomic studies in gnotobiotic mouse models) and microbe (by sequencing its 6.3 Mbp genome) [e.g., Science, 292 :1115(2001); Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99 : 15451 (2003); Nature Immunol 4 : 269 (2003); Science 299 : 2074 (2003); Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101, 4596 (2004)]. The 4779-member BT proteome contains an unprecedented expansion (among sequenced prokaryotes) of paralogous groups involved in acquisition and degradation of dietary polysaccharides, an associated highly evolved environmental-sensing system, and a complex armamentarium of genes for refashioning its genome.

B. thetaiotaomicron strain 7330 is one out of a collection of B. thetaiotaomicron isolates recovered from healthy individuals living in different regions of the world. Sequencing such isolates should yield insights about the capacity of this species to evolve its genome, plus better molecular definition of a Bacteroides species and of its metabolic capacities/functional versatility.

Sequencing Plan

The goal is to obtain 'improved' draft sequence (8X coverage). The Genome Institute has collected 8.9X WGS coverage (est. genome size 6.3Mb), including both plasmid and fosmid end reads. Automated sequence improvement is ongoing. This project is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

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Contacts

Name	Affiliation
Patrick Minx	The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine

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Sequences & Maps

Assemblies

Name	Date	Description	Blast DBs
Bacteroides_thetaiotaomicron_7330-3.0	Jan 23, 2006	8.9X	contigs supercontigs
Bacteroides_thetaiotaomicron_7330-4.0	Mar 22, 2006	12X	contigs supercontigs
Bacteroides_thetaiotaomicron_7330-5.0	Apr 27, 2006	12X	contigs supercontigs
Bacteroides_thetaiotaomicron_7330-6.0	Jul 18, 2006	12.1X	contigs

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