Whole Genome Sequencing and Annotation of Representative Strains of Spiroplasma Mirum

Mollicuts是一组进化上有趣的细菌，基因组很小，没有细胞壁；它们通常作为寄生虫生活。螺旋体是一种不寻常的软体动物，因为这些细胞具有螺旋状的形态，并以螺旋形的方式移动。螺旋体是动物和甲壳类动物的潜在病原体。有证据表明，沙门氏菌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大影响。此外，在分子水平上对螺旋体的研究通常很少。路易斯安那州立大学农业中心的弗兰克·巴斯蒂安博士和罗纳德·图恩博士将获得三个螺旋体基因组的完整序列：米氏螺旋体，一种兔虱分离株；一种螺旋体sp.最近从感染瘙痒病的羊脑中分离到的与米氏螺旋体关系密切的；以及一种非致病的螺旋体，蒙坦斯螺旋体。到目前为止，只有昆克氏螺旋体和柑橘螺旋体的部分基因组被测序。然而，这些螺旋体是植物病原体，与丝状螺旋体大相径庭。米氏螺旋体是唯一的螺旋体。在实验中导致动物持续感染，包括小鼠、大鼠和反刍动物。这些研究人员假设，将来自受TSE影响的反刍动物脑中的一种类似于S.mirum的螺旋体和一种非致病性螺旋体的基因组进行直接比较，将为TSE在一些动物和人类中的发病机制提供证据。巴斯蒂安实验室对致病动物螺旋体和感染植物和昆虫的螺旋体进行的比较研究将导致对沙门氏菌毒力基因的鉴定。巴斯蒂安/图恩项目将有一些教育和外联活动，这些活动将与研究工作交织在一起。首先，博士研究生将接受微生物基因组学方面的培训，作为本科生的导师，并向高中教师提供微生物基因组学指导。其次，该项目将通过Howard Hughes计划支持一名本科生，通过路易斯安那州立大学/支持向量机暑期学者计划支持一名兽医学生，作为2010年国际支原体组织(IOM)国际科学大会期间螺旋体基因组研讨会的积极参与者。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，这些讲习班将提供培训，提供各种在线资源，可从他们的教室访问。最后，巴斯蒂安/图恩实验室将向社区数据库添加3个完整的螺旋体基因组，这将增加对动植物疾病和人类健康中的螺旋体生物学的了解。这三个基因组将允许对先前测序的昆凯氏链球菌和柑橘链球菌基因组以及其他可用的二倍体序列进行比较生物信息学分析。

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.