WHOLE GENOME SEQUENCING OF COXIELLA BURNETTI

人畜共患病Q热是由专性细胞内细菌贝氏柯克斯体引起的。 贝氏柯克斯体已经进化出在不利的吞噬溶酶体环境中生存的策略。 该试剂对于开发细菌致病策略的比较视角非常重要。大多数病原体要么不能在环境中长时间存活，要么像许多革兰氏阳性病原体一样，已经进化出形成孢子的能力以在长时间的干燥中存活。贝氏柯克斯体是一种革兰氏阴性微生物，它发展了一种新的非孢子形成策略，以非复制形式长期生存。 这一特性已导致将该病原体视为生物战剂。 它在环境中的稳定性使负责规划对非法释放该剂的反应的官员感到严重关切。 完整基因组序列的阐明将为治疗干预的设计提供重大突破，并为其生物学提供独特的视角。我们建议序列的2.1 Mbp的基因组贝氏柯克斯体九英里，第一阶段（RSA 493），因为它的已知的毒力潜力和随后的潜力与其他分离群体进行比较。 基因组测序将通过TIGR目前使用的全基因组随机鸟枪测序完成。此外，基因组将通过计算机技术进行注释，以鉴定所有开放阅读框（ORF），并将尽可能多的ORF与已知功能的蛋白质相关联。

The zoonotic disease Q fever is a caused by the obligate intracellular bacterium Coxiella burnetii. Coxiella burnetii has evolved strategies to survive in the hostile phagolysosomal environment. This agent is important for developing a comparative perspective on bacterial pathogenesis strategies. Most pathogens either do not survive extended periods in the environment or, like many Gram-positive agents, have evolved the ability to sporulate to survive long periods of dessication. Coxiella burnetii is a Gram-negative organisms that has developed a novel, non-sporulating strategy to survive in a non-replicative form for long periods. This property has lead to the consideration of this pathogen as a bio-warfare agent. Its stability in the environment presents a serious concern for officials responsible for planning a response to the illegitimate release of this agent. Elucidation of the complete genomic sequence would provide a major breakthrough in the design of therapeutic intervention and a unique perspective on its biology. We propose to sequence the 2.1 Mbp genome of Coxiella burnetii Nine Mile, phase I (RSA 493) because of its known virulence potential and subsequent potential for comparison with other isolate groups. The genome sequence will be accomplished by the whole genome random shotgun sequencing currently used at TIGR. Additionally, the genome will be annotated by computer techniques to identify all open reading frames (ORFs) and relate as many ORFs as possible to proteins of known function.