Study sheds light on Chlamydial...( ty of Maryland's Department of Oral and...)

The Chlamydiae family includes nine known species of bacteria that infect a wide range of animal and human hosts and cause a stunning array of diseases, from the sexually-transmitted chlamydia to the major cause of infectious blindness, trachoma. Recent research has also suggested potential links of C. pneumoniae to heart ailments, Alzheimer's disease, and various other human maladies.

A recent preliminary study by scientists in Asia also has implicated Chlamydiae as a possible co-factor in the ongoing epidemic of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, known as SARS. ["Novel coronavirus and severe acute respiratory syndrome," a commentary published online in The Lancet, April 8, 2003.] The tentative link is based on preliminary evidence suggesting that prior Chlamydiae infections appear in a number of Asians who contracted SARS.

In addition to sequencing C. caviae, TIGR scientists had previously led the projects that deciphered the genomes of C. pneumoniae and C. muridarum. TIGR and other research centers are now sequencing other chlamydial species.

"There is a great deal of interest in chlamydial species now because of their possible association with chronic diseases," said Fraser. "Comparative genomics offers a powerful new set of tools to study whether or not there is an infectious etiology in atherosclerosis and Alzheimer's disease, for example, and also to identify potential new avenues for diagnosis and treatment."

TIGR staff scientist Garry Myers says that evidence for the likely horizontal transfer of genes among microbial species in the Chlamydiae family also may help scientists to better understand how genes "jump" between species. For example, genes from chlamydial species that in
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Contact: Robert Koenig
rkoenig@tigr.org
301-838-5880
The Institute for Genomic Research
21-Apr-2003