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Biography |
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Dr. Ramy Aziz is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University. He also holds an Adjunct Faculty position at San Diego State University since 2008.
His main research interests are bacterial pathogenesis, microbial and bacteriophage genomics, and the study of mobile genetic elements in genomes and metagenomes.
He is also interested in scientific communication, open access publishing, and innovative methods in teaching microbiology.
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Abstract |
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Genes Without Borders: Pervasiveness and Distribution of Mobile Genetic Elements in Genomes and Metagenomes |
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Genes, like organisms, struggle for existence; thus, the most biologically successful genes are expected to persist and widely disseminate in nature. Until recently, the unbiased determination of the true distribution of genes and genomes in nature was not feasible. However, with the expansion of full genome sequencing from various members of the Tree of Life and the advent of metagenomics, such goal has become achievable. In this presentation, I will demonstrate how the analysis of 10 million protein-encoding genes and gene tags in sequenced bacterial, archaeal, eukaryotic and viral genomes and metagenomes showed that genes belonging to bacteriophages and other mobile genetic elements are among the most abundant and most ubiquitous genes on the planet. Moreover, I will discuss the patterns of distribution of these mobile elements in microbial genomes, and in environmental and human-associated metagenomes, with emphasis on the correlation between bacteriophage distribution patterns and the ecological distribution of their microbial hosts. The prevalence of mobile genetic elements on Earth is significant inasmuch as they play a double role by acting as microbial predators or genome parasites while contributing, at the same time, to the diversification of genes and genomes. |
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