Bacteria with reduced genome

摘要

A bacterium having a genome that is genetically engineered to be at least 5% smaller than the genome of its native parent strain. The bacterium is preferably an Escherichia coli strain. Also described are methods for deleting genes and other DNA sequences from the bacterial genome that preferably do not introduce scars. The genes and other DNA sequences are selected from the group consisting of flagella gene, a restriction modification system gene, a lipopolysaccharide surface gene, an insertion sequence, a rhs element, a toxin gene, a pathogenicity gene, a fimbrae gene, an invasin gene, a periplasmic protein gene, a membrane protein gene, a prophage, a pseudogene, a K island, a bacteriophage receptor, a non-transcribed region in the genome of the native parent strain and a gene or other DNA sequence that is not present in both of any two bacteria strains of the same or related species of the native parent strain.