Whole Genome Sequencing and Annotation of Representative Strains of Spiroplasma Mirum

柔膜菌是一组进化上有趣的细菌，基因组小，没有细胞壁;它们通常作为寄生虫生活。螺原体是不寻常的柔膜菌，因为这些细胞具有螺旋形态并以螺旋方式移动。奇异螺原体是动物和甲壳类动物的潜在病原体。有证据表明，S。Mirum与动物的传染性海绵状脑病（TSE）有关，对农业实践和人类健康具有重要意义。此外，螺原体在分子水平上的研究通常很少。路易斯安那州立大学农业中心的弗兰克·巴斯蒂安和罗纳德·图恩博士将获得三种螺原体基因组的完整序列：一种兔蜱分离物，一种最近从羊瘙痒病感染的羊脑中分离出来的与S. mirum;和非致病性螺原体，Spiroplasma montanense。到目前为止，只有部分Spiroplasma kunkelii和Spiroplasma citri基因组已测序。然而，这些螺原体是植物病原体，与S.奇迹。S. mirum是唯一在实验中引起动物（包括小鼠、大鼠和反刍动物）持续感染的螺原体属。这些研究者假定，直接比较S。mirum，一个S.来自受TSE影响的反刍动物脑的Mirum样螺原体和非致病性螺原体将为某些动物和人类中TSE的发病机制提供证据。巴斯蒂安实验室对病原性动物螺原体和感染植物和昆虫的螺原体的比较研究将导致S。mirum毒力基因Bastian/Thune项目将有一些教育和推广活动，这些活动将与研究交织在一起。首先是博士学位研究生将接受微生物基因组学培训，并作为本科生的导师，为高中教师提供微生物基因组学指导。第二，该项目将通过霍华德休斯项目支持一名本科生，通过路易斯安那州立大学/SVM夏季学者项目支持一名兽医学生，作为研究的积极参与者，并在2010年国际支原体学组织（IOM）国际科学大会期间参加螺原体基因组研讨会。第三，巴斯蒂安/图恩实验室将为高中生物教师举办3-4个讲习班，这些讲习班将提供各种在线资源的培训，这些资源可以从他们的课堂上访问。最后，Bastian/Thune实验室将向社区数据库添加3个完整的螺原体基因组，这将增加对植物和动物疾病以及人类健康中螺原体生物学的了解。这三个基因组将允许对先前测序的S. kunkelii和S. citri基因组，以及其他可用的柔膜菌序列。

Mollicutes are an evolutionarily interesting group of bacteria with small genomes and without cell walls; they typically live as parasites. Spiroplasma are unusual mollicutes in that these cells have a helical morphology and move in a corkscrew fashion. Spiroplasma mirum is a potential pathogen in animals and crustaceans. There is evidence that S. mirum has been associated with transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) of animals with significant implications to agricultural practices and human health. Also, spiroplasma are generally poorly studied at the molecular level. Drs. Frank Bastian and Ronald Thune of Louisiana State University Agricultural Center will be obtaining a finished, complete sequence of three spiroplasma genomes: Spiroplasma mirum, a rabbit tick isolate; a Spiroplasma sp. isolated recently from scrapie-infected sheep brain and closely related to S. mirum; and a non-pathogenic spiroplasma, Spiroplasma montanense. To this point, only partial Spiroplasma kunkelii and Spiroplasma citri genomes have been sequenced. However, these spiroplasma are plant pathogens and widely divergent from S. mirum. S. mirum is the only Spiroplasma sp. to experimentally cause persistent infection in animals, including mice, rats and ruminants. These investigators postulate that direct comparison of the genomes of S. mirum, an S. mirum-like spiroplasma from TSE-affected ruminant brain, and a non-pathogenic spiroplasma will provide evidence for the pathogenesis of TSE in some animals and in humans. Comparative studies by the Bastian lab of pathogenic animal spiroplasma and those infecting plants and insects will lead to the identification of S. mirum virulence genes. The Bastian/Thune project will have a number of education and outreach activities which will interweave with the research. First, a Ph.D. graduate student will be trained in microbial genomics and as a mentor for undergraduate students and by providing microbial genomics instruction to high school teachers. Second, the project will be supporting an undergraduate student through the Howard Hughes Program and a veterinary student through the LSU/SVM Summer Scholars Program as active participants in the research and in the Spiroplasma Genome workshop during the International Organization for Mycoplasmology (IOM) International Scientific Congress in 2010. Thirdly, the Bastian/Thune labs will be conducting 3-4 workshops for high school biology teachers, which will be providing training with a variety of online resources which can be accessed from their classrooms. Finally, the Bastian/Thune labs will be adding 3 complete spiroplasma genomes to the community database, which will increase understanding of spiroplasma biology in plant and animal diseases and in human health. These three genomes will permit comparative bioinformatic analysis of the previously sequenced S. kunkelii and S. citri genomes, as well as of other available mollicute sequences.