About OpenKnowledge@NAU | For NAU Authors

Genomic islands from five strains of Burkholderia pseudomallei

Tuanyok, Apichai and Leadem, Benjamin R. and Auerbach, Raymond K. and Beckstrom-Sternberg, Stephen M and Beckstrom-Sternberg, James S. and Mayo, Mark and Wuthiekanun, Vanaporn and Brettin, Thomas S. and Nierman, William C. and Peacock, Sharon J. and Currie, Bart J. and Wagner, David M and Keim, Paul (2008) Genomic islands from five strains of Burkholderia pseudomallei. BMC Genomics, 9 (1). p. 566. ISSN 1471-2164

[img]
Preview
Text
Beckstrom-Sternberg_SM_et_al_2008_genomic_islands(1).pdf
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (342kB) | Preview
Publisher’s or external URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-9-566

Abstract

Burkholderia pseudomallei is the etiologic agent of melioidosis, a significant cause of morbidity and mortality where this infection is endemic. Genomic differences among strains of B. pseudomallei are predicted to be one of the major causes of the diverse clinical manifestations observed among patients with melioidosis. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of genomic islands (GIs) as sources of genomic diversity in this species. Results: We found that genomic islands (GIs) vary greatly among B. pseudomallei strains. We identified 71 distinct GIs from the genome sequences of five reference strains of B. pseudomallei: K96243, 1710b, 1106a, MSHR668, and MSHR305. The genomic positions of these GIs are not random, as many of them are associated with tRNA gene loci. In particular, the 3' end sequences of tRNA genes are predicted to be involved in the integration of GIs. We propose the term "tRNA-mediated site-specific recombination" (tRNA-SSR) for this mechanism. In addition, we provide a GI nomenclature that is based upon integration hotspots identified here or previously described. Conclusion: Our data suggest that acquisition of GIs is one of the major sources of genomic diversity within B. pseudomallei and the molecular mechanisms that facilitate horizontally-acquired GIs are common across multiple strains of B. pseudomallei. The differential presence of the 71 GIs across multiple strains demonstrates the importance of these mobile elements for shaping the genetic composition of individual strains and populations within this bacterial species.

Item Type: Article
ID number or DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-9-566
Keywords: Burkholderia mallei; causative agent; diversity; epidemiology; Evolution; Genetic variation; Gene Transfer, Horizontal; Genomic Islands; Index Medicus; mallei; Melioidosis; northeast thailand; pathogenicity islands; Plasticity; RNA, Transfer; Terminology as Topic; virulence
Subjects: Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology
Q Science > QH Natural history > QH426 Genetics
NAU Depositing Author Academic Status: Faculty/Staff
Department/Unit: College of Engineering, Forestry, and Natural Science > Biological Sciences
Research Centers > Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics
Date Deposited: 30 Sep 2015 16:35
URI: http://openknowledge.nau.edu/id/eprint/471

Actions (login required)

IR Staff Record View IR Staff Record View

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year