Comparative Genomics of Listeria Species

• DOI: 10.1126/science.1063447
• Publication Date: 2002-07-27T09:54:32Z
• Authors: P. Glaser; L. Frangeul; C. Buchrieser; C. Rusniok; A. Amend; F. Baquero; P. Berche; H. Bloecker; P. Brandt; T. Chakraborty; A. Charbit; F. Chetouani; E. Couvé; A. de Daruvar; P. Dehoux; E. Domann; G. Domı́nguez-Bernal; E. Duchaud; L. Durant; O. Dussurget; K.-D. Entian; H. Fsihi; F. Garcia-Del Por...; P. Garrido; L. Gautier; W. Goebel; N. Gómez-López; T. Hain; J. Hauf; D. Jackson; L.-M. Jones; U. Kaerst; J. Kreft; M. Kuhn; F. Kunst; G. Kurapkat; E. Madueño; A. Maitournam; J. Mata Vicente; E. Ng; H. Nedjari; G. Nordsiek; S. Novella; B. de Pablos; J.-C. Pérez-Diaz; R. Purcell; B. Remmel; M. Rose; T. Schlueter; N. Simoes; A. Tierrez; J.-A. Vázquez-Bo...; H. Voss; J. Wehland; P. Cossart
• Keywords: DNA, Bacterial; 0301 basic medicine; MESH: Chromosomes, Bacterial; MESH: Sequence Analysis, DNA; Staphylococcus aureus; Gene Transfer, Horizontal; Listeria; Amino Acid Motifs; MESH: Carrier Proteins; MESH: Virulence; MESH: Genome, Bacterial; MESH: Listeria monocytogenes; MESH: Amino Acid Motifs; 03 medical and health sciences; MESH: Base Composition; MESH: Listeria; Bacterial Proteins; [SDV.BBM.GTP]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biochemistry, Molecular Biology/Genomics [q-bio.GN]; MESH: Staphylococcus aureus; MESH: Bacterial Proteins; Base Composition; Virulence; MESH: Genomics; Membrane Proteins; MESH: Transcription Factors; Genomics; Sequence Analysis, DNA; MESH: Bacillus subtilis; Chromosomes, Bacterial; MESH: Adaptation, Physiological; MESH: DNA, Bacterial; Adaptation, Physiological; Listeria monocytogenes; MESH: Gene Transfer, Horizontal; Genes, Bacterial; [SDV.MP.VIR]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology/Virology; MESH: Membrane Proteins; MESH: Genes, Bacterial; [INFO.INFO-BI]Computer Science [cs]/Bioinformatics [q-bio.QM]; Carrier Proteins; Genome, Bacterial; Bacillus subtilis; Transcription Factors

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.