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Are transposons selfish?

Are transposons selfish?. Ramy Aziz. Rob Edwards. What does it mean to “win”?. Ubiquity : (omnipresence/ universality  essentiality ) For the purpose of this study, the ubiquity of x is calculated as the number of “ sets ” to which x belongs

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Are transposons selfish?

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  1. Are transposons selfish? Ramy Aziz Rob Edwards

  2. What does it mean to “win”? • Ubiquity: (omnipresence/ universality essentiality) • For the purpose of this study, the ubiquity of x is calculated as the number of “sets” to which x belongs • x= (gene, protein, function, protein-encoding gene, enzyme) • @sets = (genomes, metagenomes, biomes) • Abundance: (profusion  ‘fertility/ promiscuity’) • The abundance of x is calculated as the (average) number of times x is represented in a particular set

  3. Counting CDS in genomes ☺ CDS fully sequenced ☺ one copy per function (more == paralogs) So, just collect all genomes, extract all cds, count functions, and get results. ☹ Sequenced genomes do not represent life, but rather human-centered interests in life.

  4. Counting EGTs in metagenomes • Environmental gene tag (EGT) comes from one organism and represents one or more functions. • ☺ Counts ∝ abundance • ☹ Counts depend on: • Abundance • Gene length • Metagenome sample size ($$) ☹ Up 90% with no BLAST hits

  5. Biology Textbooks • The most abundant protein: RuBisCo* • How so? It’s the enzyme with the highest copy number in ecosystems (or with highest total mass). • Is it the most ubiquitous? No! It’s almost only in photosynthetic organisms. • Is its gene the most abundant? No! Most genomes lack it. *ribulose-1,5-bis phosphate carboxylase

  6. And the winner is … • Hypothetical protein • aka • Conserved protein • Unknown protein • Protein predicted by Glimmer • Very hypothetical protein • No name

  7. Why transposons? • Essential for life • Cheaters win Two hypotheses:

  8. Metagenomes … fertility Pearson Corr. 0.524 eco-essentiality

  9. Metagenomes … fertility Habitat -specific Life essentials Pearson Corr. 0.524 eco-essentiality

  10. Transposons prefer prophages

  11. Tn per prophage 30 All phages Number of phage Defective phages 20 Suspected viable phages 10 Viable phages 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 Number of Tn per phage

  12. Why transposons? • Essential for life ✔ • Cheaters win ? Two hypotheses:

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