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ARS Home » Plains Area » Clay Center, Nebraska » U.S. Meat Animal Research Center » Genetics and Animal Breeding » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #327062
Title: Comparative methylome analysis of the occasional ruminant respiratory pathogen Bibersteinia trehalosi

Author
item ANTON, BRIAN - New England Biolabs
item Harhay, Gregory
item Smith, Timothy - Tim
item BLOM, JOCHEN - Justus-Liebig University
item ROBERTS, RICHARD - New England Biolabs

Submitted to: PLOS ONE
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/11/2016
Publication Date: 8/24/2016
Citation: Anton, B.P., Harhay, G.P., Smith, T.P.L., Blom, J., Roberts, R.J. 2016. Comparative methylome analysis of the occasional ruminant respiratory pathogen Bibersteinia trehalosi. PLoS One. 11(8): e0161499.

Interpretive Summary: Bibersteinia trehalosi is a bacterium that can be found in the nasopharynx and lungs of cattle suffering from bovine respiratory disease (BRDC). It is also present as a commensal organism in the respiratory tracts of healthy cattle, and the putative mechanism by which it switches from a commensal to a pathogenic state, currently unknown, is an important topic of study. Finding treatment for BRDC, which is the ultimate goal, would be of important economic benefit to the livestock industry as well as improve the health and well-being of the animals themselves. We compared the genome-wide methylation profiles of four strains of this bacterium and identified significant differences. Some of these differences appear to be due to phase-variable expression of the genes encoding certain DNA methyltransferases. We also sequenced the genomes of these strains to closure, allowing us to identify differences in gene content, and to match methylation activities with the methyltransferases responsible. Our work provides a necessary starting point for further investigation into the genetic and epigenetic underpinnings of pathogenicity in this bacterium.

Technical Abstract: Four strains of Bibersteinia trehalosi have been sequenced and both their genomes and methylomes compared. Three of the strains, 188, 189 and 192, are very similar while strain 190 is significantly different in several aspects. Within these strains differential methylation patterns are observed and two new Type I restriction-modification systems are present. Differential expression of DNA methyltransferase genes is observed, which could explain the variations in phenotype.