Scientists have sequenced the entire genome of Chlamydia trachomatis , the enigmatic bacterium that is the leading cause of venereal disease in the US . The work, described in Science tomorrow offers surprising insights into the bug that could lead to better treatments and vaccines perhaps.
Nearly 4 million new cases of Chlamydia are reported each year in the US, says lead author Richard Stephens, a microbial geneticist at the University of California, Berkeley. It can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy and infertility if untreated. In Africa and Asia, where the bacteria is spread by contact hand-eye in children rather than sexual intimacy, it is a major cause of blindness. But efforts to create a vaccine were frustrated by the refusal of the parasite to survive in a petri dish.
Stephens team took 18 months to sequence 1,042,519 base pairs of the bacteria. Surprises include the discovery of about 20 eukaryotic genes; other bacteria that have been sequenced have been few, if any, of such genes. "This paints a picture of an intimate and long evolution with eukaryotic cells," says Stephens The conclusion goes to the question of how it has evolved its parasitic lifestyle Many of these eukaryotic genes resemble plant genes -.. Hinting that Chlamydia microorganisms to plants "of his ancestors may first parasitized. Also intriguing is that Chlamydia can make ATP, the basic fuel for any cell. "We always thought that the reason Chlamydia could live in a eukaryotic host was that the ATP had," says Stephens.
the new genome map "will facilitate and stimulate much more research on Chlamydia " predicts Thomas Hatch, a microbiologist at the University of Tennessee medical school in Memphis. the genetic code also holds clues Chlamydia surface proteins, which Stephens said would give researchers new targets for vaccines, diagnostic tests and medications.
0 Komentar