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      Genome Sequence of the Endosymbiont Rickettsia peacockii and Comparison with Virulent Rickettsia rickettsii: Identification of Virulence Factors

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          Abstract

          Rickettsia peacockii, also known as the East Side Agent, is a non-pathogenic obligate intracellular bacterium found as an endosymbiont in Dermacentor andersoni ticks in the western USA and Canada. Its presence in ticks is correlated with reduced prevalence of Rickettsia rickettsii, the agent of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. It has been proposed that a virulent SFG rickettsia underwent changes to become the East Side Agent. We determined the genome sequence of R. peacockii and provide a comparison to a closely related virulent R. rickettsii. The presence of 42 chromosomal copies of the ISRpe1 transposon in the genome of R. peacockii is associated with a lack of synteny with the genome of R. rickettsii and numerous deletions via recombination between transposon copies. The plasmid contains a number of genes from distantly related organisms, such as part of the glycosylation island of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Genes deleted or mutated in R. peacockii which may relate to loss of virulence include those coding for an ankyrin repeat containing protein, DsbA, RickA, protease II, OmpA, ScaI, and a putative phosphoethanolamine transferase. The gene coding for the ankyrin repeat containing protein is especially implicated as it is mutated in R. rickettsii strain Iowa, which has attenuated virulence. Presence of numerous copies of the ISRpe1 transposon, likely acquired by lateral transfer from a Cardinium species, are associated with extensive genomic reorganization and deletions. The deletion and mutation of genes possibly involved in loss of virulence have been identified by this genomic comparison. It also illustrates that the introduction of a transposon into the genome can have varied effects; either correlating with an increase in pathogenicity as in Francisella tularensis or a loss of pathogenicity as in R. peacockii and the recombination enabled by multiple transposon copies can cause significant deletions in some genomes while not in others.

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          Most cited references53

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          A characterization of DNA release in Pseudomonas aeruginosa cultures and biofilms.

          Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces extracellular DNA which functions as a cell-to-cell interconnecting matrix component in biofilms. Comparison of extracellular DNA and chromosomal DNA by the use of polymerase chain reaction and Southern analysis suggested that the extracellular DNA is similar to whole-genome DNA. Evidence that the extracellular DNA in P. aeruginosa biofilms and cultures is generated via lysis of a subpopulation of the bacteria was obtained through experiments where extracellular beta-galactosidase released from lacZ-containing P. aeruginosa strains was assessed. Experiments with the wild type and lasIrhlI, pqsA, pqsL and fliMpilA mutants indicated that the extracellular DNA is generated via a mechanism which is dependent on acyl homoserine lactone and Pseudomonas quinolone signalling, as well as on flagella and type IV pili. Microscopic investigation of flow chamber-grown wild-type P. aeruginosa biofilms stained with different DNA stains suggested that the extracellular DNA is located primarily in the stalks of mushroom-shaped multicellular structures, with a high concentration especially in the outer part of the stalks forming a border between the stalk-forming bacteria and the cap-forming bacteria. Biofilms formed by lasIrhlI, pqsA and fliMpilA mutants contained less extracellular DNA than biofilms formed by the wild type, and the mutant biofilms were more susceptible to treatment with sodium dodecyl sulphate than the wild-type biofilm.
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            Bacterial pathogenomics.

            Genomes from all of the crucial bacterial pathogens of humans, plants and animals have now been sequenced, as have genomes from many of the important commensal, symbiotic and environmental microorganisms. Analysis of these sequences has revealed the forces that shape pathogen evolution and has brought to light unexpected aspects of pathogen biology. The finding that horizontal gene transfer and genome decay have key roles in the evolution of bacterial pathogens was particularly surprising. It has also become evident that even the definitions for 'pathogen' and 'virulence factor' need to be re-evaluated.
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              Ankyrin repeat proteins comprise a diverse family of bacterial type IV effectors.

              Specialized secretion systems are used by many bacteria to deliver effector proteins into host cells that can either mimic or disrupt the function of eukaryotic factors. We found that the intracellular pathogens Legionella pneumophila and Coxiella burnetii use a type IV secretion system to deliver into eukaryotic cells a large number of different bacterial proteins containing ankyrin repeat homology domains called Anks. The L. pneumophila AnkX protein prevented microtubule-dependent vesicular transport to interfere with fusion of the L. pneumophila-containing vacuole with late endosomes after infection of macrophages, which demonstrates that Ank proteins have effector functions important for bacterial infection of eukaryotic host cells.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Role: Editor
                Journal
                PLoS One
                plos
                plosone
                PLoS ONE
                Public Library of Science (San Francisco, USA )
                1932-6203
                2009
                21 December 2009
                : 4
                : 12
                : e8361
                Affiliations
                [1]Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States of America
                University of Hyderabad, India
                Author notes

                Conceived and designed the experiments: RFF TJK UGM. Performed the experiments: RFF TJK. Analyzed the data: RFF. Wrote the paper: RFF TJK UGM.

                Article
                09-PONE-RA-13893
                10.1371/journal.pone.0008361
                2791219
                20027221
                a13a24b4-3baf-47e0-808a-0d25454c95d7
                Felsheim et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
                History
                : 28 October 2009
                : 20 November 2009
                Page count
                Pages: 10
                Categories
                Research Article
                Infectious Diseases
                Genetics and Genomics/Comparative Genomics
                Genetics and Genomics/Microbial Evolution and Genomics

                Uncategorized
                Uncategorized

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