Background: Sequence closure often represents the end-point of a genome project, without a system in place for subsequent improvement and refinement. Building on the genome project of Vibrio fischeri ES114, we used a comparative approach to identify and investigate genes that had a high likelihood of sequence error.
Results: Comparison of the V. fischeri ES114 genome with that of conspecific strain MJ11 identified 82 target loci in ES114 as containing likely errors, and thus of high-priority for resequencing. Analysis of the targets identified 75 loci in which an error had occurred, resulting in the correction of 10,457 base pairs to generate the new ES114 genomic sequence. A majority of the inaccurate loci involved frameshift errors, correction of which fused adjacent ORFs. Although insertions/deletions are thought to be rare in microbial genome assemblies, fourteen of the loci contained extraneous sequence of over 300 bp, likely due to imperfect contig ends that were misassembled in tandem rather than as overlapping segments. Additionally we updated the entire genome annotation with 113 new features including previously uncalled protein-coding genes, regulatory RNA genes and operon leader peptides, and we analyzed the transcriptional apparatus encoded by ES114.
Conclusion: We demonstrate that errors in microbial genome sequences, thought to largely be confined to point mutations, may also consist of other prevalent large-scale rearrangements such as insertions. Ongoing genome quality control and annotation programs are necessary to accompany technological advancements in data generation. These updates further advance V. fischeri as an important model for understanding intercellular communication and colonization of animal tissue.