Surface layers (S-layers) are protective protein coats which form around all archaea and most bacterial cells. Clostridium difficile is a Gram-positive bacterium with an S-layer covering its peptidoglycan cell wall. The S-layer in C. difficile is constructed mainly of S-layer protein A (SlpA), which is a key virulence factor and an absolute…[Read more]

The family Orobanchaceae including autotrophic, hemiparasitic, and holoparasitic species, is becoming a key taxa to study the evolution of chloroplast genomes in different lifestyles. But the early evolutionary trajectory in the transit from autotrophism to hemiparasitism still maintains unclear for the inadequate sampling. In this study, we…[Read more]