Abstract

The genomes of bacterial species show enormous plasticity in the function of individual genes, in genome organization and in regulatory organization. Over millions of years, both bacterial genes and their genomes have been extensively reorganized and adapted so that bacteria occupy virtually every environmental niche on the earth. In addition, changes have occurred in the regulatory circuitry that controls cell operations, cell-cycle progression and responses to environmental signals. The mechanisms that underlie the adaptation of the bacterial regulatory circuitry are crucial for understanding the bacterial biosphere and have important roles in the emergence of antibiotic resistance.

Author affiliations

1. Department of Developmental Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, B300 Beckman Center, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
2. Physical Bioscience Division, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories, Department of Bioengineering, University of California at Berkeley, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.

Correspondence to: Harley H. McAdams¹ Email: hmcadams@stanford.edu

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