TY - JOUR A1 - Thomson, Nicholas R. A1 - Yeats, Corin A1 - Bell, Kenneth A1 - Holden, Matthew T.G. A1 - Bentley, Stephen D. A1 - Livingstone, Morag A1 - Cerdeño-Tárraga, Ana M. A1 - Harris, Barbara A1 - Doggett, Jon A1 - Ormond, Doug A1 - Mungall, Karen A1 - Clarke, Kay A1 - Feltwell, Theresa A1 - Hance, Zahra A1 - Sanders, Mandy A1 - Quail, Michael A. A1 - Price, Claire A1 - Barrell, Bart G. A1 - Parkhill, Julian A1 - Longbottom, David T1 - The Chlamydophila abortus genome sequence reveals an array of variable proteins that contribute to interspecies variation Y1 - 2005/05/01 JF - Genome Research JO - Genome Research SP - 629 EP - 640 DO - 10.1101/gr.3684805 VL - 15 IS - 5 UR - http://genome.cshlp.org/content/15/5/629.abstract N2 - The obligate intracellular bacterial pathogen Chlamydophila abortus strain S26/3 (formerly the abortion subtype of Chlamydia psittaci) is an important cause of late gestation abortions in ruminants and pigs. Furthermore, although relatively rare, zoonotic infection can result in acute illness and miscarriage in pregnant women. The complete genome sequence was determined and shows a high level of conservation in both sequence and overall gene content in comparison to other Chlamydiaceae. The 1,144,377-bp genome contains 961 predicted coding sequences, 842 of which are conserved with those of Chlamydophila caviae and Chlamydophila pneumoniae. Within this conserved Cp. abortus core genome we have identified the major regions of variation and have focused our analysis on these loci, several of which were found to encode highly variable protein families, such as TMH/Inc and Pmp families, which are strong candidates for the source of diversity in host tropism and disease causation in this group of organisms. Significantly, Cp. abortus lacks any toxin genes, and also lacks genes involved in tryptophan metabolism and nucleotide salvaging (guaB is present as a pseudogene), suggesting that the genetic basis of niche adaptation of this species is distinct from those previously proposed for other chlamydial species. ER -