Metagenomic chromosome conformation capture (meta3C) unveils the diversity of chromosome organization in microorganisms

Genomic analyses of microbial populations in their natural environment remain limited by the difficulty to assemble full genomes of individual species. Consequently, the chromosome organization of microorganisms has been investigated in a few model species, but the extent to which the features described can be generalized to other taxa remains unknown. Using controlled mixes of bacterial and yeast species, we developed meta3C, a metagenomic chromosome conformation capture approach that allows characterizing individual genomes and their average organization within a mix of organisms. Not only can meta3C be applied to species already sequenced, but a single meta3C library can be used for assembling, scaffolding and characterizing the tridimensional organization of unknown genomes. By applying meta3C to a semi-complex environmental sample, we confirmed its promising potential. Overall, this first meta3C study highlights the remarkable diversity of microorganisms chromosome organization, wh...

在自然环境中开展微生物种群的基因组分析，往往受限于难以组装得到单物种完整基因组这一技术瓶颈。因此，目前仅在少数模式物种中开展了微生物染色体组织的相关研究，但所报道的染色体特征能否推广至其他类群仍有待探明。本研究通过构建细菌与酵母物种的可控混合体系，开发了meta3C（meta3C）——一种宏基因组染色体构象捕获技术，可在多生物混合体系中实现单物种基因组及其平均组织状态的表征。该技术不仅可应用于已完成测序的物种，且仅需单个meta3C文库即可完成未知基因组的组装、支架构建以及三维组织特征的表征。通过将meta3C应用于半复杂环境样本，我们验证了其颇具前景的应用潜力。总体而言，这项首项meta3C研究揭示了微生物染色体组织的惊人多样性，而……