Comparative Genomics of Listeria Species

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2001-10, Vol.294 (5543), p.849-852
• Main Authors: Glaser, P., Frangeul, L., Buchrieser, C., Rusniok, C., Amend, A., Baquero, F., Berche, P., Bloecker, H., Brandt, P., Chakraborty, T., Charbit, A., Chetouani, F., Couvé, E., de Daruvar, A., Dehoux, P., Domann, E., Domínguez-Bernal, G., Duchaud, E., Durant, L., Dussurget, O., K.-D. Entian, Fsihi, H., Portillo, F. Garcia-Del, Garrido, P., Gautier, L., Goebel, W., Gómez-López, N., Hain, T., Hauf, J., Jackson, D., L.-M. Jones, Kaerst, U., Kreft, J., Kuhn, M., Kunst, F., Kurapkat, G., Madueño, E., Maitournam, A., Vicente, J. Mata, Ng, E., Nedjari, H., Nordsiek, G., Novella, S., de Pablos, B., J.-C. Pérez-Diaz, Purcell, R., Remmel, B., Rose, M., Schlueter, T., Simoes, N., Tierrez, A., J.-A. Vázquez-Boland, Voss, H., Wehland, J., Cossart, P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation; Adaptation, Physiological; Amino Acid Motifs; Anatomy; Bacillus subtilis; Bacillus subtilis - genetics; Bacterial Proteins; Bacterial Proteins - chemistry; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Bacterial Proteins - physiology; Bacteriology; Base Composition; Biochemistry, Molecular Biology; Bioinformatics; Biological and medical sciences; Carrier Proteins; Carrier Proteins - chemistry; Carrier Proteins - genetics; Causes of; Chromosomes; Chromosomes, Bacterial; Chromosomes, Bacterial - genetics; Coding; Computer Science; DNA, Bacterial; DNA, Bacterial - chemistry; DNA, Bacterial - genetics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Transfer, Horizontal; Genes; Genes, Bacterial; Genetics; Genome, Bacterial; Genomes; Genomics; Life Sciences; Listeria; Listeria - chemistry; Listeria - genetics; Listeria - physiology; Listeria innocua; Listeria monocytogenes; Listeria monocytogenes - chemistry; Listeria monocytogenes - genetics; Listeria monocytogenes - pathogenicity; Listeria monocytogenes - physiology; Listeriosis; Literary Devices; Membrane Proteins; Membrane Proteins - chemistry; Membrane Proteins - genetics; Microbiology; Microbiology and Parasitology; Pathogens; Plasmids; Prophages; Proteins; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Staphylococcus aureus; Staphylococcus aureus - genetics; Studies; Transcription Factors; Transcription Factors - chemistry; Transcription Factors - genetics; Virology; Virulence; Virulence - genetics
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1063447

Listeria monocytogenes is a food-borne pathogen with a high mortality rate that has also emerged as a paradigm for intracellular parasitism. We present and compare the genome sequences of L. monocytogenes (2,944,528 base pairs) and a nonpathogenic species, L. innocua (3,011,209 base pairs). We found a large number of predicted genes encoding surface and secreted proteins, transporters, and transcriptional regulators, consistent with the ability of both species to adapt to diverse environments. The presence of 270 L. monocytogenes and 149 L. innocua strain-specific genes (clustered in 100 and 63 islets, respectively) suggests that virulence in Listeria results from multiple gene acquisition and deletion events.