RT Journal
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
JF Genome Research 
JO Genome Research 
YR 2005 
FD May 01 
VO 15 
IS 5 
SP 629 
OP 640 
DO 10.1101/gr.3684805 
UL http://genome.cshlp.org/content/15/5/629.abstract 
AB 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.