Bacterial evolution has been shaped by the acquisition of clusters of genes called genomic islands through means other than vertical inheritance. These gene clusters provide beneficial traits to the recipient bacteria such as virulence, resistance and the ability to utilize different metabolites, thereby facilitating bacterial adaptation to diverse environments and leading to the emergence of multi-drug resistant pathogens. As identification of genomic islands are of immense biomedical importance, we have developed a novel genomic island detection method, DICEP, to robustly identify genomic islands in bacterial genomes. Once genomic islands were identified, we focused on functional characterization of genes harbored by these islands as an essential step towards understanding their role in providing fitness to the recipient bacterium. We have used a gene co-expression network-based approach to gain insights into the functional association of genes within an island. The network analysis revealed novel pathogenicity associated genes and helped in functional characterization of island genes.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc2332540 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | De, Ronika |
| Contributors | Azad, Rajeev Kumar, Hughes, Lee E., Padilla, Pamela A., Shulaev, Vladimir, Jagadeeswaran, Pudur |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | Text |
| Rights | Public, De, Ronika, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved. |
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