Publication details
Whole genome fingerprinting of 8 strains from the genus Treponema.
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2010 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum (TPA) causes sexually transmitted disease syphilis, T. p. pertenue (TPE) causes yaws and T. p. endemicum (TEN) is the causative agent of endemic syphilis. The different degree of invasiveness and pathogenicity of these spirochetes reflects differences in their genomes. The goal of this work was to identify these genome differences. Eight Treponema pallidum strains were compared by whole genome fingerprinting (WGF). We used 4 TPA strains – Nichols, DAL-1, Mexico A, SS14; 3 TPE strains - Samoa D, CDC-2, Gauthier and one unclassified strain Fribourg-Blanc isolated from baboon. Based on WGF results, genome sizes and genetic relatedness of studied treponemal strains were estimated. The genome size varied between 1039.2 – 1040.9 kb with genome sequence identity of 99,5% and higher. Although TPA and TPE strains are highly similar, the genomes differ in 6 chromosomal regions including 4 deletions (33 – 377 bp) and 2 insertions (52 bp and 377 bp). The simian strain Fribourg-Blanc was similar to TPE strains suggesting its relatedness to TPE strains. Genes TP0433-434 and TP0470 contained repetitive sequence with strain specific number of repetitions. Five strains (Nichols, Samoa D, DAL-1, Gauthier and Fribourg-Blanc) showed unique genome differences, which can be useful in diagnostics and epidemiology. Most of the observed differences were localized in tpr loci and in the vicinity of these loci, suggesting their possible role in the pathogenicity of Treponema pallidum. |
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