In all domains of life, genomes contain epigenetic information superimposed over the
nucleotide sequence. Epigenetic signals control DNA–protein interactions and can cause …

Highlights•Next generation sequencing technologies have enabled large-scale genome
analyses.•Pan-genome analyses provide a framework for predicting and modeling genomic …

Among the human health conditions linked to microbial communities, phenotypes are often
associated with only a subset of strains within causal microbial groups. Although it has been …

Restriction-modification (RM) systems are ubiquitous and are often considered primitive
immune systems in bacteria. Their diversity and prevalence across the prokaryotic kingdom …

Horizontal genetic transfer (HGT) has played an important role in bacterial evolution at least
since the origins of the bacterial divisions, and HGT still facilitates the origins of bacterial …

The roles of restriction-modification (RM) systems in providing immunity against horizontal
gene transfer (HGT) and in stabilizing mobile genetic elements (MGEs) have been much …

Pathogenic Neisseria meningitidis isolates contain a polysaccharide capsule that is the
main virulence determinant for this bacterium. Thirteen capsular polysaccharides have been …

CRISPR interference confers adaptive, sequence-based immunity against viruses and
plasmids and is specified by CRISPR RNAs (crRNAs) that are transcribed and processed …

The influence of unicellular eukaryotic microorganisms on human gut health and disease is
still largely unexplored. Blastocystis spp. commonly colonize the gut, but its clinical …

The amount of bacterial and archaeal genome sequence and methylome data has greatly
increased over the last decade, enabling new insights into the functional roles of DNA …