Whole-Genome Relationships among Francisella Bacteria of Diverse Origins Define New Species and Provide Specific Regions for Detection.

ABSTRACT: Francisella tularensis is a highly virulent zoonotic pathogen that causes tularemia and, because of weaponization efforts in past world wars, is considered a tier 1 biothreat agent. Detection and surveillance of F. tularensis may be confounded by the presence of uncharacterized, closely related organisms. Through DNA-based diagnostics and environmental surveys, novel clinical and environmental Francisella isolates have been obtained in recent years. Here we present 7 new Francisella genomes and a comparison of their characteristics to each other and to 24 publicly available genomes as well as a comparative analysis of 16S rRNA and sdhA genes from over 90 Francisella strains. Delineation of new species in bacteria is challenging, especially when isolates having very close genomic characteri

SUBMITTER: Challacombe JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5244304 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature