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Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Mapping Bacterial Functional Networks and Pathways in Escherichia Coli using Synthetic Genetic Arrays
Published on: November 12, 2012
Discovering essential and infection-related genes
D E Lehoux1, F Sanschagrin, R C Levesque
1Laboratoire de Microbiologie Moléculaire, Centre de Recherche sur la Fonction, Structure et Ingénierie des Protéines, Pavillon Charles-Eugène Marchand et Faculté de Médecine, Université Laval, Sainte-Foy, Québec, G1K 7P4, Canada.
Abstract:
Transposon-based approaches are very powerful for identification of essential and infection-related genes in bacteria, particularly in the context of microbial genomics. We describe recent progress in several of these approaches, and their underlying principles. The essential gene test (EGT) is a transposon-based technique that can rapidly identify a nucleotide sequence from a database as essential or dispensable. Also, variations of in vitro transposon mutagenesis applications, such as genomic analysis and mapping by in vitro transposition (GAMBIT), are described. The development of techniques including PCR-based signature-tagged mutagenesis is now used to find essential virulence genes in different bacterial hosts. These approaches form the basis for the identification of microbial targets in development of novel antimicrobials and vaccines by the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry.
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