Labelling and Visualization of Mitochondrial Genome Expression Products in Baker's Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Mitochondria are essential organelles of eukaryotic cells capable of aerobic respiration. They contain circular genome and gene expression apparatus. A mitochondrial genome of baker's yeast encodes eight proteins: three subunits of the cytochrome c oxidase (Cox1p, Cox2p, and Cox3p), three subunits of the ATP synthase (Atp6p, Atp8p, and Atp9p), a subunit of the ubiquinol-cytochrome c oxidoreductase enzyme, cytochrome b (Cytb), and mitochondrial ribosomal protein Var1p.

Application of Spiroplasma melliferum proteogenomic profiling for the discovery of virulence factors and pathogenicity mechanisms in host-associated spiroplasmas.

To date, no genome of any of the species from the genus Spiroplasma has been completely sequenced. Long repetitive sequences similar to mobile units present a major obstacle for current genome sequencing technologies. Here, we report the assembly of the Spiroplasma melliferum KC3 genome into 4 contigs, followed by proteogenomic annotation and metabolic reconstruction based on the discovery of 521 expressed proteins and comprehensive metabolomic profiling.

The identification and characterization of IbpA, a novel α-crystallin-type heat shock protein from mycoplasma.

α-Crystallin-type small heat shock proteins (sHsps) are expressed in many bacteria, animals, plants, and archaea. Among mycoplasmas (Mollicutes), predicted sHsp homologues so far were found only in the Acholeplasmataceae family. In this report, we describe the cloning and functional characterization of a novel sHsp orthologue, IbpA protein, present in Acholeplasma laidlawii.

Mycoplasma gallisepticum produces a histone-like protein that recognizes base mismatches in DNA.

Mycoplasmas are the smallest known microorganisms, with drastically reduced genome sizes. One of the essential biochemical pathways lost in mycoplasmas is methylation-mediated DNA repair (MMR), which is responsible for correction of base substitutions, insertions, and deletions in both bacteria and higher organisms. We found that the histone-like protein encoded by the himA/hup_2 gene of Mycoplasma gallisepticum (mgHU) recognizes typical MMR substrates, in contrast to homologues from other species.