We used comparative genomics32 to examine the conservation among streptococcal species of the genes we identified as essential.
Thus, in agreement with expectation, most of the genes we identified as essential were highly conserved within streptococci.
The genes we identified hold significant potential as targets for novel therapeutic intervention either alone, or in combination.
Reassuringly, many of the genes we identified are parts of known virulence factors, or are associated with invasive pneumococcal disease and especially with bacteremia (see Table 1).
From our analysis of the chromatin regions of silk protein genes, we identified new potential regulatory sites, as well as novel modes of regulation.
Some of the target genes we identified in cancer cell study did not show significant correlations with miR-155 in tumor protein level (Fig. 5f).
Interestingly, 23 of the genes we identified had BLAST matches with genes previously found to be associated with invasive disease or associated with immune response to it.
Interestingly, homologs of the pspC gene appear in four instances amongst the genes we identified (namely hpp7, hpp10, hpp18 and hpp35).
With the exception of trnE, all of the mt genes we identified in the elephant louse were found in only one type of minichromosome.
Of the genes we identified as associated with IPD, we find 23 genes previously shown to be directly relevant to IPD, as well as 18 uncharacterized genes.
I.e., the genes we identified are comparable in length to those in the entire pangenome, but are shorter than the soft-accessory genes we used as a reference.
