Researcher(s)
- Evelyn McQuaid, Chemical Engineering, University of Delaware
Faculty Mentor(s)
- Molly Sutherland, Biological Sciences, University of Delaware
Abstract
Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron (B. theta) is an important bacterium in the human gut. B. theta requires cytochrome c for its cellular metabolism. Cytochrome c biogenesis requires the covalent attachment of heme to apocytochrome c and can be accomplished via three pathways: System I, II, or III. Most organisms encode a single cytochrome c biogenesis pathway, but B. theta encodes four copies of System II. Our overarching goal is to understand why B. theta requires multiple copies of System II and gain insights into the genomic context and retention of multiple System II pathways. My project takes a bioinformatic approach to determine if all Bacteroides species encode multiple cytochrome c biogenesis pathways. B. theta VPI 5482 strain’s CcsBA (811 amino acids) was used as a query sequence for BLASTp from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). This program compared our B. theta CcsBA sequence against a protein database. A total of 1000 protein hits were selected from this output to retrieve genome accession numbers of bacteria containing these proteins which were then used to determine if the species encoded System II. Thus far, 82 Bacteroides species have been analyzed and preliminary results suggest that they encode multiple copies of System II. The significance of B. theta encoding multiple copies of System II remains to be determined. However, given B. theta’s ability to function as both a commensal and an opportunistic pathogen, System II likely contributes to its metabolic flexibility and importance in human health.