Siderophore Production Gene Distribution in Halotolerant Archaea Genomes
Author: Michael Acholonu
Faculty Supervisor: José R. de la Torre
Department: Biology
Some halotolerant archaea, like the Halopiger salifodinae haloarchaeon, have many siderophore synthesis genes spread out. Haloarchaeon has four iron uptake chelate (IUC) genes that might be involved in making siderophore. I aim to reveal that the siderophore gene cluster was acquired from bacteria through lateral lineage transfer. Gene loss, horizontal gene transfer, and adaptation to host environments all have an impact on siderophore diversity in Haloarchaea. Understanding the roles of siderophores in halotolerant archaea is crucial for understanding their roles in opportunistic infections in humans and iron acquisition and metabolism in high-salt environments. The methods used include genomic data from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), GenemarkS to identify open reading frames, and comparative genomic and phylogenetic analyses to figure out how the genes in halotolerant archaea have changed.