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Genome sequence of Streptococcus agalactiae, a pathogen causing invasive neonatal disease

  1. Philippe Glaser1,
  2. Christophe Rusniok1,
  3. Carmen Buchrieser1,
  4. Fabien Chevalier1,
  5. Lionel Frangeul1,
  6. Tarek Msadek2,
  7. Mohamed Zouine1,
  8. Elisabeth Couvé1,
  9. Lila Lalioui3,
  10. Claire Poyart3,
  11. Patrick Trieu-Cuot3,
  12. Frank Kunst1,*

Article first published online: 27 SEP 2002

DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2958.2002.03126.x

Issue

Molecular Microbiology

Molecular Microbiology

Volume 45, Issue 6, pages 1499–1513, September 2002

Additional Information

How to Cite

Glaser, P., Rusniok, C., Buchrieser, C., Chevalier, F., Frangeul, L., Msadek, T., Zouine, M., Couvé, E., Lalioui, L., Poyart, C., Trieu-Cuot, P. and Kunst, F. (2002), Genome sequence of Streptococcus agalactiae, a pathogen causing invasive neonatal disease. Molecular Microbiology, 45: 1499–1513. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2958.2002.03126.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Laboratoire de Génomique des Microorganismes Pathogènes, and

  2. 2

    Unité de Biochimie Microbienne, Institut Pasteur, 28 Rue du Dr Roux 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France.

  3. 3

    Laboratoire Mixte Pasteur-Necker de Recherche sur les Streptocoques et Streptococcies, Faculté de Médecine Necker, 156 Rue Vaugirard, 75015 Paris, France.

* For correspondence. E-mail fkunst@ pasteur.fr ; Tel. (+33) 1 45 68 89 96; Fax (+33) 1 45 68 87 86.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 27 SEP 2002
  2. Article first published online: 27 SEP 2002
  3. Accepted 24 June, 2002.

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Summary

Streptococcus agalactiae is a commensal bacterium colonizing the intestinal tract of a significant proportion of the human population. However, it is also a pathogen which is the leading cause of invasive infections in neonates and causes septicaemia, meningitis and pneumonia. We sequenced the genome of the serogroup III strain NEM316, responsible for a fatal case of septicaemia. The genome is 2 211 485 base pairs long and contains 2118 protein coding genes. Fifty-five per cent of the predicted genes have an ortholog in the Streptococcus pyogenes genome, representing a conserved backbone between these two streptococci. Among the genes in S. agalactiae that lack an ortholog in S. pyogenes , 50% are clustered within 14 islands. These islands contain known and putative virulence genes, mostly encoding surface proteins as well as a number of genes related to mobile elements. Some of these islands could therefore be considered as pathogenicity islands. Compared with other pathogenic streptococci, S. agalactiae shows the unique feature that pathogenicity islands may have an important role in virulence acquisition and in genetic diversity.

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