Figure 17.5 Using Transposon Mutagenesis to Determine the Minimal Genome

Original papers: Hutchison, C., S. N. Peterson, S. R. Gill, R. T. Cline, O. White, C. M. Fraser, H. O. Smith and J. C. Venter. 1999. Global transposon mutagenesis and a minimal Mycoplasma genome. Science 286: 2165–2169.

Glass, J. I., N. Assad-Garcia, N. Alperovich, S. Yooseph, M. R. Lewis, M. Maruf, C. A. Hutchison III, H. O. Smith and J. C. Venter. 2006. Essential genes of a minimal bacterium. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 103: 425–430.

Mycoplasma genitalium has one of the smallest known genomes of any prokaryote. But are all of its genes essential to life? By inactivating the genes one by one, scientists determined which of them are essential for the cell’s survival.