BIOL446: Aquificota Lack Diversity in RNA Degradation Regulators
By: Michael Hajkowski
Department: Biology
Faculty Advisor: Dr. José R. De La Torre
In bacterial cells, RNA degradation is vital with respect to gene expression. Many units are important to the RNA degradation mechanism (e.g. transcription factors, chaperonin proteins, RNase) It is important for thermophilic microorganisms to contain degrading and degrading inhibition tools due to the denaturing effects of living in a high-temperature environment. Aquificota is a group of bacteria that are characterized by metabolically producing water by oxidizing hydrogen and are thermophiles. There is a lack of understanding of the differences among Aquificota genes in relation to RNA degradation. To address this question, I used KEGG and BLASTp tools of the Microbial Genomes (IMG) database to cross-reference ten Aquificota genomes with one another. Genes coding for RNA degradation regulators were consistent amongst all genomes, with little diversity. Aquificota is not diverse with RNA degradation genes.