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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Animal Disease Center » Infectious Bacterial Diseases Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #170595

Title: COMPLETION OF THE GENOME SEQUENCE OF BRUCELLA ABORTUS AND COMPARISON TO THE HIGHLY SIMILAR GENOMES OF B. MELITENSIS AND B. SUIS

Author
item Halling, Shirley
item Peterson Burch, Brooke
item Bricker, Betsy
item Zuerner, Richard
item QING, ZHANG - UNIV OF MN
item LI, LING-LING - UNIV OF MN
item KAPUR, VIVEK - UNIV OF MN
item Alt, David
item Olsen, Steven

Submitted to: Journal of Bacteriology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/14/2005
Publication Date: 4/1/2005
Citation: Halling, S.M., Peterson Burch, B.D., Bricker, B.J., Zuerner, R.L., Qing, Z., Li, L., Kapur, V., Alt, D.P., Olsen, S.C. 2005. Completion of the genome sequence of brucella abortus and comparison to the highly similar genomes of b. melitensis and b. suis. Journal of Bacteriology. 187(8):2715-26.

Interpretive Summary: Brucellosis in domestic livestock has almost been eliminated from the United States. However, bison and elk in the Greater Yellowstone National Park Area are infected with Brucella abortus, which causes brucellosis. Improved vaccines are needed to prevent the disease in wildlife and prevent the spread of B. abortus from wildlife to livestock.

Technical Abstract: The complete genomic sequence of Brucella abortus 9-941 was determined and compared with the very closely related genomes of Brucella suis 1330 and Brucella melitensis 16M. These classical Brucella species cause brucellosis, a debilitating disease in humans and a cause of reproductive failure in food animals, but have different preferred hosts. Although the genomes of these three Brucella species, are nearly identical in genetic content and gene organization, several differences were identified that may influence host-species distribution and virulence. Several loci previously identified as unique to either B. suis or B. melitensis were present in the B. abortus genome. Interestingly, several B. abortus loci were shared only with B. suis, even though the genome of B. abortus is more similar to that of B melitensis. A number of frameshifts or insertion-deletion events were identified among these three species that may affect host range and virulence. Additional candidate pathogenicity factors include two regions that encode the amino termini of predicted outer membrane proteins found only in Brucella abortus. The complete genomic sequence of B. abortus expands our knowledge of the evolution of Brucella and provides a foundation to further investigate the contribution of various pathways to the relative pathogenicity and virulence of these bacteria.