Systematic Genetic Screens Reveal the Dynamic Global Functional Organization of the Bacterial Translation Machinery

Citation

Gagarinova, A., Stewart, G., Samanfar, B., Phanse, S., White, C.A., Aoki, H., Deineko, V., Beloglazova, N., Yakunin, A.F., Golshani, A., Brown, E.D., Babu, M., Emili, A. (2016). Systematic Genetic Screens Reveal the Dynamic Global Functional Organization of the Bacterial Translation Machinery. cell reports, [online] 17(3), 904-916. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2016.09.040

Plain language summary

Bacterial protein synthesis is an essential, conserved, and environmentally responsive process. Yet, many of its components and dependencies remain unidentified.
We therefore reasoned that comprehensive molecular analysis of bacteria would be especially informative for addressing gaps in our understanding of bacterial translation . To this end, we used high-throughput technology to systematically examine translation related genes.

Abstract

Bacterial protein synthesis is an essential, conserved, and environmentally responsive process. Yet, many of its components and dependencies remain unidentified. To address this gap, we used quantitative synthetic genetic arrays to map functional relationships among >48,000 gene pairs in Escherichia coli under four culture conditions differing in temperature and nutrient availability. The resulting data provide global functional insights into the roles and associations of genes, pathways, and processes important for efficient translation, growth, and environmental adaptation. We predict and independently verify the requirement of unannotated genes for normal translation, including a previously unappreciated role of YhbY in 30S biogenesis. Dynamic changes in the patterns of genetic dependencies across the four growth conditions and data projections onto other species reveal overarching functional and evolutionary pressures impacting the translation system and bacterial fitness, underscoring the utility of systematic screens for investigating protein synthesis, adaptation, and evolution.

Publication date

2016-10-11

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