Ancestral sequence reconstruction and functional expression of proteins involved in bacterial magnetosome biogenesis

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Dirk Schüler
• Subject Area: Metabolism, Biochemistry and Genetics of Microorganisms ; Bioinformatics and Theoretical Biology ; Microbial Ecology and Applied Microbiology
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 446072859

Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) form a polyphyletic group of bacteria that biomineralize ferrimagnetic nanoparticles in specific organelles, the magnetosomes. The biosynthesis of highly diverse magnetosome structures is controlled by an unusually complex genomic region involving about 30 genes. Their ancestral function and the selective pressures that led to their emergence and diversification are still unclear. In ANCESMAG we seek to i) expand the diversity of genome sequences available for MTB; ii) decipher the structure, composition and evolution of magnetosome gene clusters; iii) reconstruct the ancestral sequences of magnetosome genes at different taxonomic ranks and iv) express the palaeoproteins in a model MTB host and characterize the resurrected phenotypes. All tasks will be addressed by coupling interdisciplinary approaches to advanced methods developed in palaeogenomics and synthetic biology. Overall, our approach will generate novel and fundamentral insights into general evolution of biomineralization and organelle function.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: France
• Partner Organisation: Agence Nationale de la Recherche / The French National Research Agency
• Cooperation Partners: Dr. Christopher Lefèvre; Professor Dr. Guy Perrière