Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have recently completed profiling the genome of Bacillus anthracis using a new technique known as RNA-Seq or Whole Transcriptome Shotgun Sequencing (WTSS). This is the first time that the full set of mRNAs produced by a bacterium (known as the transcriptome) has been defined.
Previously, transcript structure had to be determined one gene at a time, but RNA-Seq counts millions of mRNA sequences simultaneously with a technique known as high-throuput sequencing. It has been used for eukaryotic organisms before, but this is the first time it has been applied to a bacteria, as bacterial mRNAs cannot be easily separated from other RNAs in the cell as they can in eukaryotes.
More than 270 miliion short RNA fragments were collected and pieced together using a custom software tool. Once together, it was easy for the researchers to see clear boundaries between transcribed and non-transcribed regions of the genome. This tells us where to find the regulatory sequences that govern gene expression.
RNA-Seq also helps to determine the abundance of each transcript. Therefore scientists are able to detect extremely rare transcripts, random events that make individual cells different from each other. According to reseacher Nicholas Bergman, this technique allows researchers to take a more rational approach to tasks like antibiotic discovery and microbial engineering.
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