Feature architecture aware phylogenetic profiling indicates a functional diversification of type IVa pili in the nosocomial pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii.

ABSTRACT: The Gram-negative bacterial pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii is a major cause of hospital-acquired opportunistic infections. The increasing spread of pan-drug resistant strains makes A. baumannii top-ranking among the ESKAPE pathogens for which novel routes of treatment are urgently needed. Comparative genomics approaches have successfully identified genetic changes coinciding with the emergence of pathogenicity in Acinetobacter. Genes that are prevalent both in pathogenic and a-pathogenic Acinetobacter species were not considered ignoring that virulence factors may emerge by the modification of evolutionarily old and widespread proteins. Here, we increased the resolution of comparative genomics analyses to also include lineage-specific changes in protein feature architectures. Using type

SUBMITTER: Iruegas R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10374093 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature