B. megaterium Sequencing Impacts

• Cell biology studies: B. megaterium has at least a two-log greater volume (102X) than E. coli. The larger B. megaterium size has allowed several proteins to be successfully localized and increases the ease of membrane studies. Genome information will facilitate such studies as cell division, DNA-protein, protein-protein and protein-RNA interactions, protein transport, secretion, and recycling. Moreover, little is known about the factors that determine cell size. The larger size of B. megaterium compared to most other Bacilli would be veryinteresting to study from a genomics perspective.
• Cell differentiation studies: B. megaterium has been studied extensively since the 1940's because it was one of the only species to have 100% of a culture sporulate as well as the ability to germinate synchronously. Several laboratories have defined QM B1551 spore properties and identified genes for physiological spore processes, sporulation and germination. These genes represent a small set of potentially interesting genes that will be identified during
  the genome sequencing project.
• Molceular Genetic Studies: B. megaterium has been developed in its own right as a useful model organism. Additionally, most of the tools developed for B. subtilis are also applicable to and have the same efficiency in B. megaterium including most cloning and shuttle vectors. Obtaining the genome sequence will significantly increase the scope of the genetics research that can be carried out using B. megaterium. In combination with the increased cell size outlined above this makes B. megaterium an essential tool in Gram-positive genetics.
• Evolutionary Significance: Having the B. megaterium genome will allow for the examination of the relationships between the low G+C Gram positive bacteria. Although placed within the B. subtilis clade by 16S rRNA analysis, it is an equal distance from either B. subtilis or the B. cereus group making B. megaterium an excellent genome for phylogenetic comparisons.
• Educational component: At all stages of the genomic sequencing and annotation, both graduate and undergraduate students will be involved, including those in the Bioinformatics Program at Northern Illinois University. Undergraduates will be engaged in projects tied directly to the emerging genome sequences, such as bioinformatic analysis of newly discovered genes and studies on the expression and regulation of newly identified genes, hence integrating biological experimentation and genomics.