The investigation by scientists at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and collaborators used new techniques to compare the newly-sequenced genome of Chlamydophila caviae (formerly classified as C. psittaci GPIC) an obligate intracellular pathogen that causes eye infections in guinea pigs with the complete DNA sequences of three other members of the Chlamydiae family, including two that cause serious diseases in humans.
The paper, published in the mid-April issue of Nucleic Acids Research (Vol. 31, No. 8, pp. 2134-2147), found close similarity among the DNA sequences of C. caviae and three other previously-sequenced species of Chlamydiae pathogens, which attack widely different hosts and cause human diseases ranging from infectious blindness to pneumonia and possibly heart disease.
According to the analysis, nearly 800 of the 1009 annotated genes discovered in C. caviae were also found in the genomes of the other three related chlamydial bacteria: C. trachomatis, which causes chronic genital and eye infections in humans; C. pneumoniae, which causes human pneumonia, bronchitis and pharyngitis, and may also be a factor in coronary heart disease; and C. muridarum, which infects mice.
"With four complete genome sequences now available, the Chlamydiae family has become a leading microbial system for the study of the evolution of pathogens, using techniques of comparative genomics," says Tim Read, the TIGR scientist who is the first author of the new paper.
The research project, led by TIGR President Claire M. Fraser, was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Collaborators elsewhere included scientists at the Universi
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Contact: Robert Koenig
rkoenig@tigr.org
301-838-5880
The Institute for Genomic Research
21-Apr-2003