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Updated: Jul 30, 2026

Mapping Bacterial Functional Networks and Pathways in Escherichia Coli using Synthetic Genetic Arrays
Published on: November 12, 2012
Using codon usage to predict genes origin: is the Escherichia coli outer membrane a patchwork of products from
P Guerdoux-Jamet1, A Hénaut, P Nitschké
1IRISA, Rennes, France.
Abstract:
Analysis of the codon usage of genes coding for the structural components of the outer membrane in Escherichia coli, is consistent with the requirement for high expression of these genes. Because porins (which constitute the major protein component of the outer membrane), and LPS (which constitute the major outermost constituent of the outer membrane), are synthesized from genes displaying widely different codon usage, it is possible to investigate the origin of the outer membrane. The analysis predicts that the outer membrane might originate from a genome other than the genome coding for the major part of the cell. Such a special origin would explain in structural terms, the likely lethality of porins if they were inadvertently inserted within the inner membrane, giving rise to the Gram-negative bacterial type, having an envelope comprising two membranes, instead of a single cytoplasmic membrane and a murein sacculus.
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