Helicobacter pylori is one of the most potential and successful human pathogen which colonizes atleast 50% of world population. One of the important characteristics of this pathogen is the degree of allelic diversity and genetic variability which helps it to adapt and colonize. Phase variation is one of the mechanisms used by Helicobacter pylori to generate variation, where presence of homopolymeric nucleotide or dinucleotide repeats in an ORF make it prone to frequent length changes as a consequence of slipped strand mispairing mediated mutagenesis. An important feature of H. pylori biology is the presence of a large number of Restriction-Modification (R-M) systems in its genome. Till date, seven strains have been completely sequenced and each have more than 20 R-M systems. The presence of homopolymeric nucleotide or dinucleotide repeats in many of R-M systems make them an interesting subject for investigation. Here, we show that hp0051 which codes for a C5 cytosine methyltransferase from H. pylori is a hypermutable gene, which undergoes random mutations. In addition it exhibits phase variation due to presence of a dinucleotide (AG) repeat which results in a truncated protein. hp0051 homologs were amplified and sequenced from different clinical isolates of H. pylori. Sequence analysis showed that hp0051 homologs from 23 clinical isolates are different from each other suggesting a hypervariable nature of the sequence. It was observed that when over expressed in E. coli hp0051 undergoes random mutations. These mutations give rise to different variants of HP0051 with different biochemical properties. Different variants of HP0051 were biochemically characterized. All variants recognize 5´-CCTC-3´ and methylate the first cytosine. A few of the isoforms exhibit degeneracy in the recognition site as they recognize 5´- CNCC-3´ (N being any nucleotide) and methylates third cytosine. Molecular modelling studies suggest that HP0051 has two domains, one large domain having catalytic and AdoMet binding motifs and small domain having target recognition domain. DNA sequencing, peptide finger mapping, MALDI MS-MS and CD have been used to establish the differences between the different isoforms of HP0051. Interestingly when a mutant protein which lacks methylation activity was expressed in E.coli random mutations were not observed. To understand the role of methylation in the occurrence of random mutations, microarray analysis was done. Microarray analysis have shown that the overexpression of HP0051 results in the down regulation of deoxyadenine methyltransferase (dam) in E.coli. Microarray data were further authenticated by RT PCR analysis. dam plays a vital role in mismatch repair pathway and down regulation of dam results in enhanced mutation rates. A large number of clinical isolates were analysed for the presence of hp0051 and hp0051 was found to be present in 83% of strains obtained from patients compared to 25 % of strains from healthy volunteers. Single colonies obtained from the same patient were analysed and it was found that variation in hp0051 exists within a patient also. Deletion of an orphan C5 cytosine methyltransferase, hp0051 in H. pylori strains 26695, SS1 and 98.4 has a significant effect on the expression of number of genes belonging to motility, adhesion and virulence. 98.4∆hp0051 mutant strain has a different LPS profile and is able to induce high IL-8 production compared to wild-type. H. pylori strain 26695∆hp0051 is more motile than the wild- type. hp0051 from strain 26695 is able to complement mutant SS1 and 98.4 strains. This study highlights the possible significance of cytosine methylation in the physiology of H. pylori. hp0050 is a N6 DNA adenine methyltransferase which overlaps with the hp0051 ORF .hp0050 was cloned, over expressed and purified to near homogeneity. It recognizes the sequence 5´GRRG 3´ (where R is A or G) and most intriguingly methylates both adenines when R is A (5´GAAG 3´). Kinetic analysis suggest a non processive (repeated hit) mechanism of methylation in which HP0050 methyltransferase methylates one adenine at a time in sequence 5´GAAG 3´. Interestingly, HP0050 homologs from two clinical strains PG227 and 128 methylate only 5´GAGG 3´ compared to 5´GRRG 3´ in strain 26695. HP0050 MTase is highly conserved as it is present in more than 90% of strains. Inactivation of hp0050 in strain PG227 resulted in poor growth suggesting its important role in the physiology of Helicobacter pylori. Collectively, these findings provide impetus for exploring the role(s) of this conserved DNA methyltransferase in the cellular processes of Helicobacter pylori. In one of the clinical isolate it was found that hp0051 and hp0050 can code for a single polypeptide due to an insertion mutation. This mutant ( hp0050 and hp0051 fusion ) was cloned, overexpressed and purified. It was found that fusion protein is able to methylate both adenine and cytosine in the cognate sequence. Similarly, hp1369 - hp1370 is a phase variable type III MTase and it belongs to ɛ group of MTases based on the arrangement of motifs. It has a poly G repeat in its ORF and any change in the number of repeats can result in a functional (full length) or non functional (truncated) protein. Within strain 26695, it has 10 G repeat which results in a truncated protein. Addition of a single nucleotide by site directed mutagenesis in the repeat results in a full length functional protein. HP1369_HP1370 fusion protein recognizes and methylates 5´ TCAGC 3´. DNA methyltransferases are known to play a critical role in gene regulation, cell cycle regulation and pathogenesity in a number of pathogens. H. pylori genome is rich in DNA methyltransferases and this study shows that these methyltransferases exhibit unique features like phase - variation and polymorphism .We propose that high degree of variation that exists in these methyltransferases could play a vital role in enhancing the ability of H. pylori to adapt its host.

With the proliferation of plant genomes being sequenced, assembled, and annotated, duplicate gene loss from whole genome duplication events, also known in plants as frac- tionation, has shown to have a different pattern from the classic gene duplication models described by Ohno in 1970. Models proposed more recently, the Gene Balance and Gene Dosage hypotheses, try to model this pattern. These models, however, disagree with each other on the relative importance of gene function and gene expression. In this thesis we explore the effects of gene function and gene expression on duplicate gene loss and retention. We use gene sequence similarity and gene order conservation to construct our gene fam- ilies. We applied multiple whole genome comparison methods across various plants in rosids, asterids, and Poaceae in looking for a general pattern. We found that there is great consistency across different plant lineages. Genes categorized as metabolic genes with low level of expression have relatively low fractionation resistance, losing duplicate genes readily, while genes categorized as regulation and response genes with high level of expression have relatively high fractionation resistance, retaining more duplicate gene pairs or triples. Though both gene function and gene expression have important effects on retention pattern, we found that gene function has a bigger effect than gene expression. Our results suggest that both the Gene Balance and Gene Dosage models account to some extent for fractionation resistance.

Les glucides sont très rependus dans la nature et sont impliqués dans une multitude de phénomènes biologiques. Sous forme de saccharides et de glycoconjugués, ils constituent une partie substantielle de la biomasse produite sur terre et représentent une source potentielle d’énergie renouvelable de première importance. La diversité des glucides complexes est créée et contrôlée par un panel d’activités enzymatiques qui interviennent dans leur assemblage, dégradation et modification. L’étude structurale et fonctionnelle des enzymes actives sur les glucides (CAZymes) est à la base de multiples efforts de recherche appliquée en biotechnologie. L’industrie recherche actuellement des enzymes avec des activités et des spécificités encore plus performantes. L’activité de recherche de ces nouvelles enzymes est grandement facilitée par l’accumulation de séquences biologiques dans les bases de données, provenant notamment des études génomiques.Mon sujet de recherche s’inscrit dans un objectif de développement d’outils pour la classification et l’identification de nouvelles enzymes impliqués dans la conversion de la biomasse. Tous ces travaux sont en lien direct avec la mise en place d’une nouvelle infrastructure de la base de données CAZy et l’analyse de données génomiques, métagénomiques et biochimiques. La refonte complète de la structure de la base de données préexistantes et de son interface a été ainsi réalisée. Cet effort a été validé par l’analyse des familles de polysaccharide lyases et la création de sous-familles, dont l’homogénéité fonctionnelle a été révélée. De plus, la détection systématique de protéines modulaires portant des modules d’adhésion aux composants de la paroi végétale a permis l’identification de nouvelles protéines potentiellement impliquées dans la dégradation de la biomasse végétale. Enfin, j’ai implémenté des approches automatisées capables d’analyser de grands volumes de données (méta)génomiques pour en extraire le contenu en CAZymes. / Carbohydrates are widely distributed in nature, where they are involved in a multitude of important biological events. Saccharides and glycoconjugates constitute the main component of the biomass produced on earth, therefore they represent a plentiful source of renewable energy. The diversity of complex carbohydrates is created and controlled by a panel of enzyme activities involved in their assembly, degradation and modification. The structural and functional study of Carbohydrate Active enZymes on (CAZymes) has been the basis for many applied research efforts in biotechnology. For exemple, the biotechnology industry is currently searching enzymes with enhanced activities and specificities. The identification of new enzymes is potentially facilitated by the large-scale accumulation of gene sequences, particularly from current genomic studies.This thesis aimed at developing tools for the classification and identification of new enzymes involved in biomass degradation. To this end, a new structure of the CAZy database was developed and applied to mining genomic, metagenomic and biochemical data. A complete reorganisation of the structure of the existing database and its interface has been achieved. In this effort the analysis of all known families of polysaccharide lyases has been validated and subfamilies were created, which revealed functional homogeneity. In addition, the systematic identification of modular proteins containing plant cell wallbinding modules allowed the identification of new proteins potentially targeting plant biomass. Finally, I show that it is indeed possible to analyze large volumes of (meta)genomic data by automated methods in order to understand their CAZyme contents.

Essential genes constitute the minimal gene set of an organism that is indispensable for its survival under most favorable conditions. The problem of accurately identifying and predicting genes essential for survival of an organism has both theoretical and practical relevance in genome biology and medicine. From a theoretical perspective it provides insights in the understanding of the minimal requirements for cellular life and plays a key role in the emerging field of synthetic biology; from a practical perspective, it facilitates efficient identification of potential drug targets (e.g., antibiotics) in novel pathogens. However, characterizing essential genes of an organism requires sophisticated experimental studies that are expensive and time consuming. The goal of this research study was to investigate machine learning methods to accurately classify/predict "essential genes" in newly sequenced microbial genomes based solely on their genomic sequence data. This study formulates the predication of essential genes problem as a binary classification problem and systematically investigates applicability of three different supervised classification methods for this task. In particular, Decision Tree (DT), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) based classifier models were constructed and trained on genomic features derived solely from gene sequence data of 14 experimentally validated microbial genomes whose essential genes are known. A set of 52 relevant genomic sequence derived features (including gene and protein sequence features, protein physio-chemical features and protein sub-cellular features) was used as input for the learners to learn the classifier models. The training and test datasets used in this study reflected between-class imbalance (i.e. skewed majority class vs. minority class) that is intrinsic to this data domain and essential genes prediction problem. Two imbalance reduction techniques (homology reduction and random under sampling of 50% of the majority class) were devised without artificially balancing the datasets and compromising classifier generalizability. The classifier models were trained and evaluated using 10-fold stratified cross validation strategy on both the full multi-genome datasets and its class imbalance reduced variants to assess their predictive ability of discriminating essential genes from non-essential genes. In addition, the classifiers were also evaluated using a novel blind testing strategy, called LOGO (Leave-One-Genome-Out) and LOTO (Leave-One-Taxon group-Out) tests on carefully constructed held-out datasets (both genome-wise (LOGO) and taxonomic group-wise (LOTO)) that were not used in training of the classifier models. Prediction performance metrics, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, precision and area under the Receiver Operating Characteristics (AU-ROC) were assessed for DT, SVM and ANN derived models. Empirical results from 10 X 10-fold stratified cross validation, Leave-One-Genome-Out (LOGO) and Leave-One-Taxon group-Out (LOTO) blind testing experiments indicate SVM and ANN based models perform better than Decision Tree based models. On 10 X 10-fold cross validations, the SVM based models achieved an AU-ROC score of 0.80, while ANN and DT achieved 0.79 and 0.68 respectively. Both LOGO (genome-wise) and LOTO (taxonwise) blind tests revealed the generalization extent of these classifiers across different genomes and taxonomic orders. This study empirically demonstrated the merits of applying machine learning methods to predict essential genes in microbial genomes by using only gene sequence and features derived from it. It also demonstrated that it is possible to predict essential genes based on features derived from gene sequence without using homology information. LOGO and LOTO Blind test results reveal that the trained classifiers do generalize across genomes and taxonomic boundaries and provide first critical estimate of predictive performance on microbial genomes. Overall, this study provides a systematic assessment of applying DT, ANN and SVM to this prediction problem. An important potential application of this study will be to apply the resultant predictive model/approach and integrate it as a genome annotation pipeline method for comparative microbial genome and metagenome analysis resources such as the Integrated Microbial Genome Systems (IMG and IMG/M).

Orientadores: Anete Pereira de Souza, Sindélia Freitas Azzoni / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-26T11:06:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Crucello_Aline_D.pdf: 3829574 bytes, checksum: b0eb3f1e3e0030f42a0081e3bf8b5ef8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: O Brasil é hoje referência mundial na produção de etanol produzido a partir da cana-de-açúcar, cujo consumo tem aumentado significativamente nos últimos anos. Entretanto, a produção atual de etanol a partir do suco da cana-de-açúcar é insuficiente para atender a demanda do mercado nacional e internacional. Nesse contexto, a produção de etanol celulósico (de segunda geração) emergiu como uma alternativa promissora ao bioetanol de primeira geração. O fungo filamentoso Trichoderma harzianum IOC-3844 é uma linhagem brasileira que se destaca pela alta capacidade de produção de enzimas do complexo das celulases e hemicelulases, característica de grande interesse em biocatálise para conversão de biomassa em monômeros de açúcar fermentáveis. Apesar de seu comprovado potencial, há poucos dados de literatura disponíveis a respeito de sua capacidade celulolítica. Desta forma, este projeto teve como objetivo principal contribuir para o conhecimento básico sobre regiões do genoma de T. harzianum IOC-3844 envolvidas na via de hidrólise de compostos celulósicos, através da construção de uma biblioteca genômica de BAC (bacterial artificial chromosome). A biblioteca de BACs conta com 5760 clones, com insertos de DNA de tamanho médio de 90 kb, o que dá uma cobertura de aproximadamente 12 vezes o genoma de T. harzianum. Através da seleção de clones contendo genes de interesse, foram identificadas regiões com altas concentrações de genes relacionados à hidrólise de biomassa. Além disso, a combinação de dados genômicos, obtidos através da biblioteca de BACs, juntamente com dados de transcriptoma possibilitou a identificação de novos potenciais genes regulatórios. Os resultados trazem grande contribuição para a pesquisa associada a T. harzianum e à genômica de fungos relacionada à produção de etanol de segunda geração / Abstract: Brazil is a world reference in sugarcane ethanol production, whose consumption has increased significantly in recent years. However, the current production of ethanol from sugarcane juice is insufficient to meet the demand of national and international market. In this context, the production of cellulosic ethanol (second generation) has emerged as a promising alternative to first-generation bioethanol. The filamentous fungus Trichoderma harzianum IOC-3844 is a Brazilian strain known for its high ability to produce enzymes of cellulosic and hemicellulosic complex, characteristic of great interest in biocatalysis for conversion of biomass into fermentable sugar monomers. Despite its potential, there are few published data available regarding its cellulolytic ability. Thus, this project aimed to contribute to the basic knowledge about regions of the genome of T. harzianum IOC-3844 involved in the hydrolysis of cellulosic compounds pathway, through the construction of a genomic BAC (bacterial artificial chromosome) library. The BAC library comprises 5,760 clones with an average DNA insert size of 90 kb, which represents about 12-fold coverage of the T. harzianum genome. Through the selection of clones containing genes of interest, regions containing high concentrations of genes related to biomass hydrolysis were identified. Furthermore, the combination of genomic data obtained from BAC library together with transcriptome data allowed the identification of novel potential regulatory genes. The results bring great contribution to studies related to T. harzianum and to fungal genomics regarding second generation bioethanol production / Doutorado / Genetica de Microorganismos / Doutora em Genética e Biologia Molecular

A citricultura paulista pode ser considerada uma das mais competitivas e importantes atividades agroindustriais do Brasil, gerando aproximadamente 400 mil empregos e adicionando anualmente U$ 1,4 bilhões ao país. Entretanto ainda apresenta uma produtividade inferior àquela encontrada na Flórida, principalmente devido a deficiências nutricionais e hídricas e a doenças que há diversos anos atingem às lavouras. Nos últimos dez anos a clorose variegada dos citros (CVC), conhecida popularmente como a doença do amarelinho, apresenta-se como o principal problema, sendo a bactéria gram-negativa Xylella fastidiosa seu agente causal. Em vista da importância do cultivo da laranja no país, o projeto \"Genoma Xylella fastidiosa\" foi proposto, visando o seqüenciamento total do genoma deste fitopatógeno bem como o treinamento de pessoal capacitado na utilização das modernas técnicas de biologia molecular. Segmentos de DNA provenientes de 7 cosmídeos e diversos clones provenientes de bibliotecas de \"shotgun\" genômico foram seqüenciados em nosso laboratório, totalizando 271.220 pb do genoma da bactéria. Em seguida foi feita a anotação das orfs preditas por programa GLIMMER, sendo que em nosso laboratório foram anotadas aproximadamente 290 ORFs. Seqüenciamentos diretamente do genoma e de clones das bibliotecas de RDA foram também realizados, complementando as metodologias de primer walking e construção de bibliotecas de fago utilizadas em outros laboratórios do projeto para o fechamento de \"gaps\". Todos os resultados obtidos em nosso laboratório, somados às contribuições de todos os grupos do projeto, serão base para a melhor compreensão dos mecanismos utilizados pela bactéria, podendo favorecer o desenvolvimento de novas estratégias para o combate desta praga. / The São Paulo\'s citriculture can be considered one of the most competitive and important agroindustrial activity from Brazil. It provides aproximately 400,000 jobs and adds US$ 1,4000,000,000 for the country\'s economy. This activity, however, still shows less productivity than the one from Florida, mainly due to nutritional and hydric deficiencies and plagues that are already present for a long time. In the last ten years, the citrus variegated chlorosis (CVC), also known as little yellow disease, constitutes the main problem for the orange farmers. This disease is caused by gram-negative bacterium Xylella fastidiosa. Due to the importance of the orange cultive in the country, the project called Xylella fastidiosa\'s Genome was proposed. The main goals of this project are to sequence the entire genome of this phytopathogen and the trainning of specialized people in the use of modern techniques of molecular biology. DNA fragments cloned in 7 cosrnids and also form genomic shotgun libraries were sequenced in our laboratory. A total of 271,220 bp of bacteria genome were obtained. The next step was the annotation of the open reading frames (ORFs). This was made using the GLIMMER computer program which generates, in our laboratory, aproximately 290 ORFs. Direct sequencing of the genome and clones of RDA libraries were also done for obtaining nucleotide sequences form gaps. These methodologies complement the primer walking and phage library construction used by other laboratories included in the project. All results, obtained either by our laboratory or the other groups from the project, will be used for a better understanding of the mechanisms used by the bacteria, Altogether, they can be favor the development of new strategies in the plague combact.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi desenvolver uma metodologia para identificação de regiões promotoras funcionais a partir de segmentos de um genoma qualquer. O genoma da cana-de-açúcar foi escolhido para o desenvolvimento desta estratégia na qual envolve a obtenção de fragmentos de DNA os quais foram clonados em vetores de expressão. A triagem destes fragmentos foi realizada através de biobalística e resultou no isolamento de quatro clones. Um ensaio de transformação permanente em arroz com três clones gerou 12 plantas. Foi detectada expressão do marcador GUS em calos, folhas e raízes, comprovando sua funcionalidade. Desta maneira, o presente trabalho permitiu estabelecer uma metodologia de recuperação de sequências regulatórias funcionais com ampla possibilidade de serem explorados biotecnologicamente. / The aim of this work is develop a strategy to identify functional promoter regions from any genome. The modern sugarcane genome was chosen as a model for the development of this strategy that involves the generation of fragments of DNA and cloning them into expression vectors. These fragments were then screened by a transient expression assay using biolistic particle delivery resulting in the isolation of four clones. Three clones were permanently transformed in rice, and 12 plants were obtained. GUS expression was detected in the callus, leaves and roots of the rice plants thus confirming the functionality of sequences in these clones. The present work has established a strategy to identify and extract functional regulatory sequences containing functional regulatory regions which show great potential of being useful in both the biotechnology field and in the field of basic science.

A leptospirose é uma zoonose causada por bactérias patogênicas do gênero Leptospira. No mundo, aproximadamente 500.000 casos são reportados a cada ano, com 10% de taxa de mortalidade. Atualmente, vacinas contra leptospirose são compostas por células inativadas e são ineficazes em diferentes aspectos. Após analise do genoma, os genes LIC11121, LIC11087, LIC11228 e LIC11084 foram escolhidos para caracterização da imunogenicidade de suas respectivas proteínas. Esses genes foram clonados no vetor de expressão pAE e as proteínas recombinantes foram purificadas. Os resultados sugerem que essas proteínas podem estar localizadas na membrana externa, são imunogênicas, possivelmente expressas durante a infecção e que podem ter envolvimento em mecanismos de evasão do sistema imune e de patogenicidade da bactéria. Além disso, em um de dois experimentos, a proteína rLIC11084 induziu imunidade protetora parcial em hamsters imunizados frente desafio letal. / Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease caused by pathogenic bacteria of genus Leptospira. In the world, nearly 500,000 cases are reported each year, with 10% of mortality rate. Currently, vaccines against leptospirosis are composed by inactivated cells that are ineffective in many aspects. After genome analysis, the genes LIC11121, LIC11087, LIC11228 e LIC11084 were chosen for immunogenicity characterization of their respective proteins. These genes were cloned in the pAE expression vector and the proteins encoded by LIC11087, LIC11228 and LIC11084 were purified. The results suggest the localization of these proteins in the bacterial outer membrane, are immunogenic, are possibly expressed during infection and may have involvement in mechanisms of immune system evasion and pathogenicity. Moreover, in one of two experiments, the rLIC11084 protein induced partial protective immunity of immunized hamsters against lethal challenge.

O sequenciamento genômico da L. interrogans sorovar Copenhageni e ferramentas de bioinformática nos permitiram selecionar 15 genes que codificam proteínas hipotéticas conservadas preditas de superfície. A conservação foi confirmada por PCR em seis dos sorovares mais predominantes de L. interrogans. As proteínas recombinantes foram clonadas em vetor de expressão de E. coli em fusão com seis resíduos de histidina, que permite a purificação por cromatografia de afinidade a metal. Seis proteínas apresentaram reatividade com anticorpos presentes em soros de pacientes com leptospirose. Através de um ensaio de adesão por ELISA, identificamos uma nova adesina de leptospira, Lsa21, que interage fortemente com laminina, colágeno IV e fibronectina plasmática. Usando a metodologia de Western blotting, identificamos mais nove possíveis adesinas. Nossos ensaios de desafio demonstraram que as proteínas rLIC12730 conferiu proteção contra infecção letal de L. interrogans em hamsters. Nossos dados sugerem que seja um promissor candidato na prevenção da leptospirose. / The whole-genome sequences of L. interrogans serovar Copenhageni and the bioinformatic tools allow us to choose fifteen genes encoding for conserved hypothetical proteins predicted to be exported to the membrane. The chosen genes were amplified by PCR from six predominant pathogenic serovars, the DNA cloned in an E. coli vector, the recombinant proteins expressed in fusion with 6xHis-tag at N-terminus and purified by metal affinity chromatography. Six proteins were recognized by antibodies present in sera from human patients diagnosed with leptospirosis. By ELISA-attachment assay, we have identified a novel adhesion, named Lsa21, that binds strongly to laminin, collagen IV, and plasma fibronectin. By western blotting assay, we have further identified nine novel probable adhesions. The immunization/challenge assays showed that the recombinant protein rLIC12730 afforded protection against lethal leptospiral inoculation in hamsters. Our data suggest that it is a promising candidate for prevention of leptospirosis.

As enzimas lipolíticas vêm atraindo atenção no mercado global devido ao enorme potencial biotecnológico, como: na formulação de detergentes; na indústria de couro; produção de cosméticos, fármacos, aromas, biodiesel, etc. O objetivo deste trabalho foi prospectar genes codificadores de enzimas lipolíticas em biblioteca metagenômica de um consórcio microbiano degradador de óleo diesel. A seleção foi feita pela atividade lipolítica através do cultivo dos clones em placa de petri e a avaliação foi pela observação de halo ao redor da colônia, sendo positiva para 30 clones dentre os quais dois se destacaram. Estes dois clones foram selecionados e subclonados. Os DNAs das sub-bibliotecas foram sequenciados, gerando um contig completo para cada clone. Através do ORF Finder foi identificado cinco ORFs de esterase/lipase, dentre as quais uma alcançou 58% de identidade com uma bactéria não cultivável. As árvores filogenéticas indicam que duas ORFs são similares à família IV das enzimas lipolíticas, enquanto que as outras três ORFs à família V. / Lipolytic enzymes have been attracting global market attention because they show enormous biotechnological potential. The present work was done as an attempt to find genes which codify lipolytic enzymes in a metagenomic library composed of diesel oil degradation microbe consortia. Clones were selected according to lipolytic activity and were then evaluated after cultivation in Petri dishes by observation of halo formation around the colonies. 30 clones produced halo formations and were identified as positives, two of which showed prominent results. These two were then selected and sub cloned. DNA from the sub libraries was sequenced, generating a complete contig for each clone. Using the ORF Finder five esterase/lipase ORFs were identified, with one of these attaining 58% of identity to a non cultivatable bacteria species. Assessment of the cladograms showed that two ORFs were similar to lipolytic enzyme family IV, while the other three ORFs were similar to family V.