1. Role of Nucleotide Polymorphisms in Evolution of Staphylococcal Minimal Genome
Karthi Sivaraman
Department of Molecular and Microbiology,
University of Central Florida

2. The common minimal genome of Staphylococcus aureus
Common minimal genome (CMG)
Set of orthologous genes present in all the strains of a given species
The staphylococcal CMG (14 strains)
2001 genes
765 genes of known function
1236 Hypothetical proteins

3. Non-Synonymous SNP distribution in the S. aureus CMG

4. Classification of Genes with high SNP variation – Top 5%
Majority of the genes belong to pathogenicity (20) / biofilm (4) formation group
Total genes in category = 199
Total genes for which function could be assigned = 45

5. Classification of Genes with zero non-synonymous SNP
Majority of the genes belong to metabolism and macromolecule biosynthesis groups
Total genes in category = 637
Total genes for which function could be assigned = 268

6. NIH Grant 5R01-AI060753 to Alexander M Cole
Conclusions
Pathogenesis related genes in S. aureus minimal genome accrue more SNPs than do house keeper genes
Evolution of S. aureus pathogenicity involves both large scale horizontal gene transfer as well as micro scale changes in the minimal genome.
Acknowledgements
Dr. Alexander Cole, Nitya Venkataraman,
and Conference Organizers
Funding
NIH Grant 5R01-AI to Alexander M Cole