Linked Life Data

14766927

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/14766927

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
Pt 2
pubmed:dateCreated
2004-2-9
pubmed:databankReference
pubmed:abstractText
To better understand the biology and the virulence determinants of the two major mycobacterial human pathogens Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium leprae, their genome sequences have been determined recently. In silico comparisons revealed that among the 1439 genes common to both M. tuberculosis and M. leprae, 219 genes code for proteins that show no similarity with proteins from other organisms. Therefore, the latter 'core' genes could be specific for mycobacteria or even for the intracellular mycobacterial pathogens. To obtain more information as to whether these genes really were mycobacteria-specific, they were included in a focused macro-array, which also contained genes from previously defined regions of difference (RD) known to be absent from Mycobacterium bovis BCG relative to M. tuberculosis. Hybridization of DNA from 40 strains of the M. tuberculosis complex and in silico comparison of these genes with the near-complete genome sequences from Mycobacterium avium, Mycobacterium marinum and Mycobacterium smegmatis were undertaken to answer this question. The results showed that among the 219 conserved genes, very few were not present in all the strains tested. Some of these missing genes code for proteins of the ESAT-6 family, a group of highly immunogenic small proteins whose presence and number is variable among the genomically highly conserved members of the M. tuberculosis complex. Indeed, the results suggest that, with few exceptions, the 'core' genes conserved among M. tuberculosis H37Rv and M. leprae are also highly conserved among other mycobacterial strains, which makes them interesting potential targets for developing new specific anti-mycobacterial drugs. In contrast, the genes from RD regions showed great variability among certain members of the M. tuberculosis complex, and some new specific deletions in Mycobacterium canettii, Mycobacterium microti and seal isolates were identified and further characterized during this study. Together with the distribution of a particular 6 or 7 bp micro-deletion in the gene encoding the polyketide synthase pks15/1, these results confirm and further extend the revised phylogenetic model for the M. tuberculosis complex recently presented.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Feb
pubmed:issn
1350-0872
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
150
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
483-96
pubmed:dateRevised
2008-11-21
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2004
pubmed:articleTitle
Macro-array and bioinformatic analyses reveal mycobacterial 'core' genes, variation in the ESAT-6 gene family and new phylogenetic markers for the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex.
pubmed:affiliation
Unité de Génétique Moléculaire Bactérienne, Institut Pasteur, 25-28 rue du Docteur Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't