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July 7, 2019

Complete genome sequence of Bordetella pertussis D420.

Bordetella pertussis is the causative agent of whooping cough, a highly contagious, acute respiratory illness that has seen resurgence despite the use of vaccines. We present the complete genome sequence of a clinical strain of B. pertussis, D420, which is representative of a currently circulating clade of this pathogen. Copyright © 2015 Boinett et al.


July 7, 2019

Co-cultivation and transcriptome sequencing of two co-existing fish pathogens Moritella viscosa and Aliivibrio wodanis.

Aliivibrio wodanis and Moritella viscosa have often been isolated concurrently from fish with winter-ulcer disease. Little is known about the interaction between the two bacterial species and how the presence of one bacterial species affects the behaviour of the other.The impact on bacterial growth in co-culture was investigated in vitro, and the presence of A. wodanis has an inhibitorial effect on M. viscosa. Further, we have sequenced the complete genomes of these two marine Gram-negative species, and have performed transcriptome analysis of the bacterial gene expression levels from in vivo samples. Using bacterial implants in the fish abdomen, we demonstrate that the presence of A. wodanis is altering the gene expression levels of M. viscosa compared to when the bacteria are implanted separately.From expression profiling of the transcriptomes, it is evident that the presence of A. wodanis is altering the global gene expression of M. viscosa. Co-cultivation studies showed that A. wodanis is impeding the growth of M. viscosa, and that the inhibitorial effect is not contact-dependent.


July 7, 2019

Complete genome sequence of Bacillus thuringiensis YC-10, a novel active strain against plant-parasitic nematodes.

Bacillus thuringiensis is an important microbial biopesticide for controlling agricultural pests by the production of toxic parasporal crystals proteins.Here,we report the finished annotated genome sequence of B. thuringiensis YC-10,which is highly toxic to nematodes.The complete genome sequence consists of a circular chromosome and nine circular plasmids,which the biggest plasmid harbors six parasporal crystals proteins genes consisting of cry1Aa, cry1Ac, cry1Ia, cry2Aa, cry2Ab and cryB1. The crystals proteins of Cry1Ia and Cry1Aa have high nematicidal activity against Meloidogyne incognita. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


July 7, 2019

Paenibacillus larvae-directed bacteriophage HB10c2 and its application in American Foulbrood-affected honey bee larvae.

Paenibacillus larvae is the causative agent of American foulbrood (AFB), the most serious honey bee brood bacterial disease. We isolated and characterized P. larvae-directed bacteriophages and developed criteria for safe phage therapy. Whole-genome analysis of a highly lytic virus of the family Siphoviridae (HB10c2) provided a detailed safety profile and uncovered its lysogenic nature and a putative beta-lactamase-like protein. To rate its antagonistic activity against the pathogens targeted and to specify potentially harmful effects on the bee population and the environment, P. larvae genotypes ERIC I to IV, representatives of the bee gut microbiota, and a broad panel of members of the order Bacillales were analyzed for phage HB10c2-induced lysis. Breeding assays with infected bee larvae revealed that the in vitro phage activity observed was not predictive of the real-life scenario and therapeutic efficacy. On the basis of the disclosed P. larvae-bacteriophage coevolution, we discuss the future prospects of AFB phage therapy. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.


July 7, 2019

Tandem repeats in rodents genome and their mapping.

Tandemly-repeated sequences represent a unique class of eukaryotic DNA. Their content in the genome of higher eukaryotes mounts to tens of percents. However, the evolution of this class of sequences is poorly-studied. In our paper, 62 families of Mus musculus tandem repeats are analyzed by bioinformatic methods, and 7 of them are analyzed by fluorescence in situ hybridization. It is shown that the same tandem repeat sets co-occure only in closely related species of mice. But even in such species we observe differences in localization on the chromosomes and the number of individual tandem repeats. With increasing evolutionary distance only some of the tandem repeat families remain common for different species. It is shown, that the use of a combination of bioinformatics and molecular biology techniques is very perspective for further studies of the evolution of tandem repeats.


July 7, 2019

Complete genome sequence of Piscirickettsia salmonis LF-89 (ATCC VR-1361) a major pathogen of farmed salmonid fish.

Piscirickettsia salmonis, the causative agent of salmonid rickettsial septicemia (SRS), is a significant threat to the healthy and sustainable production of salmonid farming industry. This Gram-negative bacterium, originally isolated from a coho salmon in Southern Chile, produces a systemic infection characterized by colonization of several fish organs. P. salmonis is able to infect, survive, and replicate inside salmonid macrophages however little is known about its mechanisms of pathogenesis. Here, we present the whole genome sequence and annotation of the P. salmonis reference strain LF-89 (ATCC VR-1361). The genome contains one circular chromosome of 3,184,851bp and three plasmids, pPSLF89-1 (180,124bp), pPSLF89-2 (33,516bp) and pPSLF89-3 (51,573bp). A total of 2850 protein-coding genes, 56 tRNAs and six copies of 5S-16S-23S rRNA. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


July 7, 2019

The assembly and characterisation of two structurally distinct cattle MHC class I haplotypes point to the mechanisms driving diversity.

In cattle, there are six classical MHC class I genes that are variably present between different haplotypes. Almost all known haplotypes contain between one and three genes, with an allele of Gene 2 present on the vast majority. However, very little is known about the sequence and therefore structure and evolutionary history of this genomic region. To address this, we have refined the MHC class I region in the Hereford cattle genome assembly and sequenced a complete A14 haplotype from a homozygous Holstein. Comparison of the two haplotypes revealed extensive variation within the MHC class Ia region, but not within the flanking regions, with each gene contained within a conserved 63- to 68-kb sequence block. This variable region appears to have undergone block gene duplication and likely deletion at regular breakpoints, suggestive of a site-specific mechanism. Phylogenetic analysis using complete gene sequences provided evidence of allelic diversification via gene conversion, with breakpoints between each of the extracellular domains that were associated with high guanine-cytosine (GC) content. Advancing our knowledge of cattle MHC class I evolution will help inform investigations of cattle genetic diversity and disease resistance.


July 7, 2019

Draft genome sequence of Streptomyces sp. strain Wb2n-11, a desert isolate with broad-spectrum antagonism against soilborne phytopathogens.

Streptomyces sp. strain Wb2n-11, isolated from native desert soil, exhibited broad-spectrum antagonism against plant pathogenic fungi, bacteria, and nematodes. The 8.2-Mb draft genome reveals genes putatively responsible for its promising biocontrol activity and genes which enable the soil bacterium to directly interact beneficially with plants. Copyright © 2015 Köberl et al.


July 7, 2019

Essential roles of methionine and S-adenosylmethionine in the autarkic lifestyle of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Multidrug resistance, strong side effects, and compliance problems in TB chemotherapy mandate new ways to kill Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Here we show that deletion of the gene encoding homoserine transacetylase (metA) inactivates methionine and S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) biosynthesis in Mtb and renders this pathogen exquisitely sensitive to killing in immunocompetent or immunocompromised mice, leading to rapid clearance from host tissues. Mtb ?metA is unable to proliferate in primary human macrophages, and in vitro starvation leads to extraordinarily rapid killing with no appearance of suppressor mutants. Cell death of Mtb ?metA is faster than that of other auxotrophic mutants (i.e., tryptophan, pantothenate, leucine, biotin), suggesting a particularly potent mechanism of killing. Time-course metabolomics showed complete depletion of intracellular methionine and SAM. SAM depletion was consistent with a significant decrease in methylation at the DNA level (measured by single-molecule real-time sequencing) and with the induction of several essential methyltransferases involved in biotin and menaquinone biosynthesis, both of which are vital biological processes and validated targets of antimycobacterial drugs. Mtb ?metA could be partially rescued by biotin supplementation, confirming a multitarget cell death mechanism. The work presented here uncovers a previously unidentified vulnerability of Mtb-the incapacity to scavenge intermediates of SAM and methionine biosynthesis from the host. This vulnerability unveils an entirely new drug target space with the promise of rapid killing of the tubercle bacillus by a new mechanism of action.


July 7, 2019

Acetylcholinesterase 1 in populations of organophosphate-resistant North American strains of the cattle tick, Rhipicephalus microplus (Acari: Ixodidae).

Rhipicephalus microplus, the cattle fever tick, is a global economic problem to the cattle industry due to direct infestation of cattle and pathogens transmitted during feeding. Cattle fever tick outbreaks continue to occur along the Mexico-US border even though the tick has been eradicated from the USA. The organophosphate (OP) coumaphos targets acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and is the approved acaricide for eradicating cattle fever tick outbreaks. There is evidence for coumaphos resistance developing in cattle ticks in Mexico, and OP-resistant R. microplus ticks were discovered in outbreak populations of Texas in 2005. The molecular basis of coumaphos resistance is not known, and our study was established to gather further information on whether AChE1 is involved in the resistance mechanism. We also sought information on allele diversity in tick populations with different levels of coumaphos resistance. The overarching project goal was to define OP resistance-associated gene mutations such that a DNA-based diagnostic assay could be developed to assist the management of resistance. Three different AChE transcripts have been reported in R. microplus, and supporting genomic and transcriptomic data are available at CattleTickBase. Here, we report the complete R. microplus AChE1 gene ascertained by sequencing a bacterial artificial chromosome clone containing the entire coding region and the flanking 5′ and 3′ regions. We also report AChE1 sequences of larval ticks from R. microplus strains having different sensitivities to OP. To accomplish this, we sequenced a 669-bp region of the AChE1 gene corresponding to a 223 amino acid region of exon 2 to assess alleles in seven strains of R. microplus with varying OP resistance phenotypes. We identified 72 AChE1 sequence variants, 2 of which are strongly associated with OP-resistant phenotypes. Esterase-like sequences from the R. microplus transcriptome RmiTr Version 1.0 were compared to the available sequence databases to identify other transcripts with similarity to AChE1.


July 7, 2019

Genome sequence of the haloarchaeon Haloterrigena jeotgali type strain A29(T) isolated from salt-fermented food.

Haloterrigena jeotgali is a halophilic archaeon within the family Natrialbaceae that was isolated from shrimp jeotgal, a traditional Korean salt-fermented food. A29(T) is the type strain of H. jeotgali, and is a Gram-negative staining, non-motile, rod-shaped archaeon that grows in 10 %-30 % (w/v) NaCl. We present the annotated H. jeotgali A29(T) genome sequence along with a summary of its features. The 4,131,621 bp genome with a GC content of 64.9 % comprises 4,215 protein-coding genes and 127 RNA genes. The sequence can provide useful information on genetic mechanisms that enable haloarchaea to endure a hypersaline environment.


July 7, 2019

Identification and structural characterization of naturally-occurring broad-spectrum cyclic antibiotics isolated from Paenibacillus.

The rise of antimicrobial resistance necessitates the discovery and/or production of novel antibiotics. Isolated strains of Paenibacillus alvei were previously shown to exhibit antimicrobial activity against a number of pathogens, such as E. coli, Salmonella, and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The responsible antimicrobial compounds were isolated from these Paenibacillus strains and a combination of low and high resolution mass spectrometry with multiple-stage tandem mass spectrometry was used for identification. A group of closely related cyclic lipopeptides was identified, differing primarily by fatty acid chain length and one of two possible amino acid substitutions. Variation in the fatty acid length resulted in mass differences of 14 Da and yielded groups of related MS(n) spectra. Despite the inherent complexity of MS/MS spectra of cyclic compounds, straightforward analysis of these spectra was accomplished by determining differences in complementary product ion series between compounds that differ in molecular weight by 14 Da. The primary peptide sequence assignment was confirmed through genome mining; the combination of these analytical tools represents a workflow that can be used for the identification of complex antibiotics. The compounds also share amino acid sequence similarity to a previously identified broad-spectrum antibiotic isolated from Paenibacillus. The presence of such a wide distribution of related compounds produced by the same organism represents a novel class of broad-spectrum antibiotic compounds.


July 7, 2019

Whole genome sequence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa F9676, an antagonistic bacterium isolated from rice seed.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a group of bacteria, which can be isolated from diverse ecological niches. P. aeruginosa strain F9676 was first isolated from a rice seed sample in 2003. It showed strong antagonism against several plant pathogens. In this study, whole genome sequencing was carried out. The total genome size of F9676 is 6368,008bp with 5586 coding genes (CDS), 67 tRNAs and 3 rRNAs. The genome sequence of F9676 may shed a light on antagonism P. aeruginosa. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


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