7 CONCLUDING REMARKS
Even after decades of research, there are large gaps in our knowledge
that impede the comprehensive understanding of life. This applies from
the smallest artificial organisms as well as to model organisms such asM. mycoides JCVI-syn3A and B. subtilis , respectively
(Hutchison et al., 2016; Pedreira et al., 2022b). We are now in a
position to get novel insights from global unbiased analyses which has
already provided (Nicolas et al., 2012; O’Reilly et al., 2023) or will
provide at least some initial minimal annotation for many of these
proteins. This information is an excellent starting point for further
analyses of unknown protein function in B. subtilis . The better
understanding of these poorly studied proteins as well as of the poorly
studied functions will be important to answer key scientific questions
such as the identification of a minimal gene set to run a living cell,
to develop new strategies in biotechnology, and will also stimulate the
research with other bacteria, including important pathogens.