Genetic adaptation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa to the airways of cystic fibrosis patients.

ABSTRACT: In many human infections, hosts and pathogens coexist for years or decades. Important examples include HIV, herpes viruses, tuberculosis, leprosy, and malaria. With the exception of intensively studied viral infections such as HIV/AIDs, little is known about the extent to which the clonal expansion that occurs during long-term infection by pathogens involves important genetic adaptations. We report here a detailed, whole-genome analysis of one such infection, that of a cystic fibrosis (CF) patient by the opportunistic bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The bacteria underwent numerous genetic adaptations during 8 years of infection, as evidenced by a positive-selection signal across the genome and an overwhelming signal in specific genes, several of which are mutated during the cour

SUBMITTER: Smith EE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1482519 | biostudies-literature | 2006 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature