Pan-Genome Analysis of Staphylococcus aureus Reveals Key Factors Influencing Genomic Plasticity
Na Liu, Danping Liu, Kexin Li, Songnian Hu, Zilong He
Abstract
We sought to explore the impact of driving factors influencing pan-genome composition using Staphylococcus aureus as a model organism to provide new insights for the study of bacterial pan-genomes. We believe that the sequence type (ST) of the strains under consideration plays a significant role in the dynamic distribution of bacterial genes. Our findings indicate that there are a certain number of essential genes in Staphylococcus aureus; however, the number of core genes is not as high as previously thought. The new classification method proposed herein suggests that a new set of housekeeping genes more suitable for Staphylococcus aureus must be identified to improve the current classification status of this species.