Journal article
The genome of the heartwater agent Ehrlichia ruminantium contains multiple tandem repeats of actively variable copy number
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, Vol.102(3), pp.838-843
01/18/2005
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/113812
PMCID: PMC545511
PMID: 15637156
Abstract
Heartwater, a tick-borne disease of domestic and wild ruminants, is caused by the intracellular rickettsia
Ehrlichia ruminantium
(previously known as
Cowdria ruminantium
). It is a major constraint to livestock production throughout subSaharan Africa, and it threatens to invade the Americas, yet there is no immediate prospect of an effective vaccine. A shotgun genome sequencing project was undertaken in the expectation that access to the complete protein coding repertoire of the organism will facilitate the search for vaccine candidate genes. We report here the complete 1,516,355-bp sequence of the type strain, the stock derived from the South African Welgevonden isolate. Only 62% of the genome is predicted to be coding sequence, encoding 888 proteins and 41 stable RNA species. The most striking feature is the large number of tandemly repeated and duplicated sequences, some of continuously variable copy number, which contributes to the low proportion of coding sequence. These repeats have mediated numerous translocation and inversion events that have resulted in the duplication and truncation of some genes and have also given rise to new genes. There are 32 predicted pseudogenes, most of which are truncated fragments of genes associated with repeats. Rather then being the result of the reductive evolution seen in other intracellular bacteria, these pseudogenes appear to be the product of ongoing sequence duplication events.
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Details
- Title
- The genome of the heartwater agent Ehrlichia ruminantium contains multiple tandem repeats of actively variable copy number
- Creators
- Nicola E Collins - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South AfricaJunita Liebenberg - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South AfricaEtienne P de Villiers - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South AfricaKelly A Brayton - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South AfricaElmarié Louw - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South AfricaAlri Pretorius - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South AfricaF. Erika Faber - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South AfricaHenriette van Heerden - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South AfricaAntoinette Josemans - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South AfricaMirinda van Kleef - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South AfricaHelena C Steyn - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South AfricaM. Fransie van Strijp - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South AfricaErich Zweygarth - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South AfricaFrans Jongejan - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South AfricaJean Charles Maillard - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South AfricaDavid Berthier - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South AfricaMarli Botha - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South AfricaFourie Joubert - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South AfricaCraig H Corton - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South AfricaNicholas R Thomson - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South AfricaMaria T Allsopp - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South AfricaBasil A Allsopp - Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort 0110, South Africa
- Publication Details
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, Vol.102(3), pp.838-843
- Academic Unit
- Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Identifiers
- 99900548235601842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article