Comparative genomics of Mycoplasma: analysis of conserved essential genes and diversity of the pan-genome.
Mycoplasma, the smallest self-replicating organism with a minimal metabolism and little genomic redundancy, is expected to be a close approximation to the minimal set of genes needed to sustain bacterial life.This study employs comparative evolutionary analysis of twenty Mycoplasma genomes to gain an improved understanding of essential genes.By ana