Complete Genome Sequence of Neisseria meningitidis Serogroup B Strain MC58

• DOI: 10.1126/science.287.5459.1809
• Publication Date: 2002-07-27T09:40:21Z
• Authors: Hervé Tettelin; Nigel J. Saunders; John Heidelberg; Alex C. Jeffries; Karen E. Nelson; Jonathan A. Eisen; Karen A. Ketchum; Derek W. Hood; John F. Peden; Robert J. Dodson; William C. Nelson; Michelle L. Gwinn; Robert DeBoy; Jeremy D. Peterson; Erin K. Hickey; Daniel H. Haft; Steven L. Salzberg; Owen White; Robert D. Fleisch...; Brian A. Dougherty; Tanya Mason; Anne Ciecko; Debbie S. Parksey; Eric Blair; Henry Cittone; Emily B. Clark; Matthew D. Cotton; Terry R. Utterback; Hoda Khouri; Haiying Qin; Jessica Vamathevan; John Gill; Vincenzo Scarlato; Vega Masignani; Mariagrazia Pizza; Guido Grandi; Li Sun; Hamilton O. Smith; Claire M. Fraser; E. Richard Moxon; Rino Rappuoli; J. Craig Venter
• Keywords: Pathogenicity island; Phase variation; Neisseria; Horizontal Gene Transfer; Coding region

The 2,272,351-base pair genome of Neisseria meningitidis strain MC58 (serogroup B), a causative agent meningitis and septicemia, contains 2158 predicted coding regions, 1158 (53.7%) which were assigned biological role. Three major islands horizontal DNA transfer identified; two these contain genes encoding proteins involved in pathogenicity, the third island sequences only for hypothetical proteins. Insights into commensal virulence behavior N. can be gleaned from genome, structural pilus are clustered several regions unique to serogroup B capsular polysaccharide synthesis identified. Finally, more that undergo phase variation than any pathogen studied date, mechanism controls their expression contributes evasion host immune system.