Genomics of Treponema.
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2005 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | The genus Treponema contains a number of disease-causing species. This includes T. pallidum pallidum (syphilis), T. pallidum pertenue (yaws), and T. pallidum endemicum (endemic syphilis, bejel) as well as T. carateum (pinta), T. paraluiscuniculi (rabbit treponematosis), and T. denticola (associated with periodontal disease). Many of these organisms differ from each other in only a few percent of their sequence, as judged by older hybridization studies, yet cause distinct diseases and pathologies. It is likely that the genetic bases for these pnenotypic differences results from subtle changes, possibly single base changes, rather than gain or loss of blocks of genes. Our aim has been to catalog genomic differences between these organisms as a starting point to pinpointing the genetic differences responsible for the infection phenotypes. We have sequenced several of these bacteria, using conventional as well as new methods, and have also performed genome wide comparisons by fingerprinting methods. |
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