Table 1.

Tabulation of S. aureus essential genes by category.

Category	Number of essential genes in S. aureus	Number of S. aureus essential genes with an essential orthologue in B. subtilis	Number of B. subtilis essential genes with no essential orthologue in S. aureus
DNA metabolism	27	22	3
DNA replication	16	16	0
DNA packaging and segregation	11	6	3
RNA metabolism	25	14	2
Basic transcription machinery	4	4	0
RNA modification	10	7	2
RNA regulation	11	3	0
Protein synthesis	102	86	7
Ribosomal proteins	49	47	4
tRNA synthetase	22	20	1
tRNA modification	2	2	0
Translation factors	13	10	1
Protein folding	5	2	0
Protein modification	3	0	0
Protein translocation	8	5	1
Cell envelope	66	43	22
Lipids	15	11	0
Phospholipids	4	4	1
Cell wall/amino sugar	3	3	3
Diaminopimelate biosynthesis	0	0	4
Peptidoglycan biosynthesis	17	10	2
Teichoic acid biosynthesis	12	8	0
Cell division	12	7	0
Cell shape	0	0	3
Na/H transporter	0	0	9
Cell envelope – other	3	0	0
Carbon metabolism	20	9	0
Glycolysis	11	9	0
Pentose phosphate	4	0	0
Intermediary metabolism	3	0	0
Regulation	2	0	0
Respiratory pathways	11	4	9
Isoprenoid/Mevalonate biosynthesis	8	1	2
Menaquinone biosynthesis	1	1	7
Thioredoxin	2	2	0
Nucleotides	12	8	2
Purine biosynthesis	3	2	2
Purine metabolism	1	0	0
Purine/Pyrimidine biosynthesis	3	3	0
Pyrimidine biosynthesis	5	3	0
Cofactors	24	13	2
Acetyl CoA/CoA	5	1	0
Folate	6	1	2
NAD biosynthesis	4	4	0
SAM	1	1	0
Fe-sulphate cluster	7	6	0
Riboflavin biosynthesis	1	0	0
Other/unknown	64	14	2
Amino acid transporter	1	0	0
GTP binding	6	6	0
Other	4	3	1
Unknown	53	5	1