RT Journal
A1 Stinear, Timothy P.
A1 Seemann, Torsten
A1 Harrison, Paul F.
A1 Jenkin, Grant A.
A1 Davies, John K.
A1 Johnson, Paul D.R.
A1 Abdellah, Zahra
A1 Arrowsmith, Claire
A1 Chillingworth, Tracey
A1 Churcher, Carol
A1 Clarke, Kay
A1 Cronin, Ann
A1 Davis, Paul
A1 Goodhead, Ian
A1 Holroyd, Nancy
A1 Jagels, Kay
A1 Lord, Angela
A1 Moule, Sharon
A1 Mungall, Karen
A1 Norbertczak, Halina
A1 Quail, Michael A.
A1 Rabbinowitsch, Ester
A1 Walker, Danielle
A1 White, Brian
A1 Whitehead, Sally
A1 Small, Pamela L.C.
A1 Brosch, Roland
A1 Ramakrishnan, Lalita
A1 Fischbach, Michael A.
A1 Parkhill, Julian
A1 Cole, Stewart T.
T1 Insights from the complete genome sequence of Mycobacterium marinum on the evolution of Mycobacterium tuberculosis
JF Genome Research 
JO Genome Research 
YR 2008 
FD May 01 
VO 18 
IS 5 
SP 729 
OP 741 
DO 10.1101/gr.075069.107 
UL http://genome.cshlp.org/content/18/5/729.abstract 
AB Mycobacterium marinum, a ubiquitous pathogen of fish and amphibia, is a near relative of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the etiologic agent of tuberculosis in humans. The genome of the M strain of M. marinum comprises a 6,636,827-bp circular chromosome with 5424 CDS, 10 prophages, and a 23-kb mercury-resistance plasmid. Prominent features are the very large number of genes (57) encoding polyketide synthases (PKSs) and nonribosomal peptide synthases (NRPSs) and the most extensive repertoire yet reported of the mycobacteria-restricted PE and PPE proteins, and related-ESX secretion systems. Some of the NRPS genes comprise a novel family and seem to have been acquired horizontally. M. marinum is used widely as a model organism to study M. tuberculosis pathogenesis, and genome comparisons confirmed the close genetic relationship between these two species, as they share 3000 orthologs with an average amino acid identity of 85%. Comparisons with the more distantly related Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis and Mycobacterium smegmatis reveal how an ancestral generalist mycobacterium evolved into M. tuberculosis and M. marinum. M. tuberculosis has undergone genome downsizing and extensive lateral gene transfer to become a specialized pathogen of humans and other primates without retaining an environmental niche. M. marinum has maintained a large genome so as to retain the capacity for environmental survival while becoming a broad host range pathogen that produces disease strikingly similar to M. tuberculosis. The work described herein provides a foundation for using M. marinum to better understand the determinants of pathogenesis of tuberculosis.