Virulence evolution of the human pathogen Neisseria meningitidis by recombination in the core and accessory genome.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Neisseria meningitidis is a naturally transformable, facultative pathogen colonizing the human nasopharynx. Here, we analyze on a genome-wide level the impact of recombination on gene-complement diversity and virulence evolution in N. meningitidis. We combined comparative genome hybridization using microarrays (mCGH) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) of 29 meningococcal isolates with computational comparison of a subset of seven meningococcal genome sequences.

Principal findings

We found that lateral gene transfer of minimal mobile elements as well as prophages are major forces shaping meningococcal population structure. Extensive gene content comparison revealed novel associations of virulence with genetic elements besides the recently discovered meningococca

SUBMITTER: Joseph B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3082526 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature