Chlamydia trachomatis diversity viewed as a tissue-specific coevolutionary arms race.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The genomes of pathogens are thought to have evolved under selective pressure provided by the host in a coevolutionary arms race (the 'Red Queen's Hypothesis'). Traditionally, adaptation by pathogens is thought to rely not on whole chromosome dynamics but on gain/loss of specific genes, yielding differential abilities to infect distinct tissues. Thus, it is not known whether distinct host organs differently shape the genome of the same pathogen. We tested this hypothesis using Chlamydia trachomatis as model species, looking at 15 serovars that infect different organs: eyes, genitalia and lymph nodes.

Results

We analyzed over 51,000 base pairs from all serovars using various phylogenetic approaches and a non-phylogenetic indel-based algorithm to study the evolution

SUBMITTER: Nunes A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2760880 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature