Insights into the CRISPR/Cas system of Gardnerella vaginalis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Gardnerella vaginalis is identified as the predominant colonist of the vaginal tracts of women diagnosed with bacterial vaginosis (BV). G. vaginalis can be isolated from healthy women, and an asymptomatic BV state is also recognised. The association of G. vaginalis with different clinical phenotypes could be explained by different cytotoxicity of the strains, presumably based on disparate gene content. The contribution of horizontal gene transfer to shaping the genomes of G. vaginalis is acknowledged. The CRISPR loci of the recently discovered CRISPR/Cas microbial defence system provide a historical view of the exposure of prokaryotes to a variety of foreign genetic elements.

Results

The CRISPR/Cas loci were analysed using available sequence data from three G. vag

SUBMITTER: Pleckaityte M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3559282 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature