Genome Structure
B. anthracis has a single chromosome which is a circular, 5,227,293 bp DNA molecule. It also has two circular, extrachromosomal, double-stranded DNA plasmids, pXO1 and pXO2. Both the pXO1 and pXO2 plasmids are required for full virulence and represent two distinct plasmid families.
| Feature | Chromosome | pXO1 | pXO2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Size (bp) | 5,227,293 | 181,677 | 94,829 |
| Number of genes | 5,508 | 217 | 113 |
| Replicon coding (%) | 84.3 | 77.1 | 76.2 |
| Average gene length (nt) | 800 | 645 | 639 |
| G+C content (%) | 35.4 | 32.5 | 33.0 |
| rRNA operons | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| tRNAs | 95 | 0 | 0 |
| sRNAs | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Phage genes | 62 | 0 | 0 |
| Transposon genes | 18 | 15 | 6 |
| Disrupted reading frame | 37 | 5 | 7 |
| Genes with assigned function | 2,762 | 65 | 38 |
| Conserved hypothetical genes | 1,212 | 22 | 19 |
| Genes of unknown function | 657 | 8 | 5 |
| Hypothetical genes | 877 | 122 | 51 |
Read more about this topic: Bacillus Anthracis
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