Glycogen metabolism loss: a common marker of parasitic behaviour in bacteria?

We searched 55 completely sequenced bacterial genomes for glycogen synthesis and degradation enzymes. A significant proportion of these bacteria appears to lack glycogen metabolism capability. Interestingly, these bacteria are parasitic, symbiotic or fastidious (i.e. difficult to culture outside the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Trends in genetics 2002-09, Vol.18 (9), p.437-440
Main Authors: Henrissat, Bernard, Deleury, Emeline, Coutinho, Pedro M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Bacterial Proteins - genetics
Behaviorism
Biological and medical sciences
Biomarkers - analysis
carbon source
Down-Regulation
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genes. Genome
Genome, Bacterial
Glycogen - metabolism
Host-Parasite Interactions
Humans
Molecular and cellular biology
Molecular genetics
parasitic bacteria
parasitic behaviour
Plants
Sequence Homology
strach metabolism
Symbiosis
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Summary:We searched 55 completely sequenced bacterial genomes for glycogen synthesis and degradation enzymes. A significant proportion of these bacteria appears to lack glycogen metabolism capability. Interestingly, these bacteria are parasitic, symbiotic or fastidious (i.e. difficult to culture outside their normal environment). It is suggested that the lack of bacterial glycogen metabolism is a trait associated with parasitic behaviour in bacteria. An analysis of the genomes of 55 bacteria reveals that glycogen metabolism is often lost in organisms dependent on plant or animal hosts.
ISSN:0168-9525
DOI:10.1016/S0168-9525(02)02734-8