Genetic analysis of "other" bacteria

Genetic analysis of other bacteria

What are "other" bacteria? Many genetic tools have been developed for use in a few, well characterized bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and Bacillus subtilis. With a little gedanken (i.e. hard thinking) and elbow grease some of these tools can be applied to other bacteria as well. Many examples are available in the primary literature.

A good general place to start is:

Maloy, S., and T. Zahrt. 2000. Surrogate genetics: The use of bacterial hybrids as a genetic tool. Methods 20: 73-79.
Miller, J. 1991. Bacterial genetic systems. Meth. Enzymol. Volume 204. Academic Press, San Diego.

For Gram-negative bacteria, check out:

Davison, J. 2002. Genetic tools for Pseudomonads, Rhizobia, and other Gram-negative bactria. Biotechniques 32: 386-401.

For Gram positive bacteria, a couple of good resources are:

Fischetti, V., R. Novick, J. Ferretti, D. Portnoy, and J. Rood. (eds) 2000. Gram positive pathogens. ASM Press, Washington, D.C.
Sonenshein, A., J. Hoch, and R. Losick. 2001. Bacillus subtilis and its closest relatives: from genes to cells. ASM Press, Washington, D.C.

For bacteria with developmental life styles, a good resource is:

Brun, Y., and L. Shimkets. 2000. Prokaryotic development. ASM Press, Washington, D.C.

Please send comments, suggestions, or questions to smaloy@sciences.sdsu.edu
Last modified July 23, 2002