The genome, evolution and diversity of Mycobacterium ulcerans
- 1 April 2012
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Elsevier BV in Infection, Genetics and Evolution
- Vol. 12 (3), 522-529
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meegid.2012.01.018
Abstract
Mycobacterium ulcerans (M. ulcerans) causes a devastating infection of the skin and underlying tissue commonly known as Buruli ulcer (BU). Genetic analyses indicate that M. ulcerans has a common ancestor with Mycobacterium marinum (M. marinum) and has diverged from this fish and human pathogen perhaps around a million years ago. M. ulcerans is characterized by minimal genetic diversity and since it has a highly clonal population structure, genetic differences between individual isolates reflect changes that have occurred sequentially from their respective progenitors. This feature, which is shared by other bacterial pathogens with low sequence diversity, such as Yersinia pestis and Bordetella pertussis renders M. ulcerans a promising model to reveal evolutionary mechanisms. Until today transmission pathways and environmental reservoirs of M. ulcerans are not entirely explored. However, comparative genome analysis of closely related M. ulcerans isolates is anticipated to give deeper insights into the population structure of this enigmatic mycobacterium. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Keywords
Funding Information
- UBS-Optimus Foundation
- DAAD-German Academic Exchange Service
This publication has 91 references indexed in Scilit:
- Strain diversity, epistasis and the evolution of drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosisClinical Microbiology & Infection, 2011
- Large Sequence Polymorphisms Unveil the Phylogenetic Relationship of Environmental and Pathogenic Mycobacteria Related to Mycobacterium ulceransApplied and Environmental Microbiology, 2009
- Phagocytosis ofMycobacterium ulceransin the course of rifampicin and streptomycin chemotherapy in Buruli ulcer lesionsBritish Journal of Dermatology, 2009
- DNAPlotter: circular and linear interactive genome visualizationBioinformatics, 2008
- Insights from the complete genome sequence of Mycobacterium marinum on the evolution of Mycobacterium tuberculosisGenome Research, 2008
- Independent Loss of Immunogenic Proteins in Mycobacterium ulcerans Suggests Immune EvasionClinical and Vaccine Immunology, 2008
- Reductive evolution and niche adaptation inferred from the genome of Mycobacterium ulcerans, the causative agent of Buruli ulcerGenome Research, 2007
- Evolutionary History of Salmonella TyphiScience, 2006
- Globally Distributed Mycobacterial Fish Pathogens Produce a Novel Plasmid-Encoded Toxic Macrolide, Mycolactone FInfection and Immunity, 2006
- Massive gene decay in the leprosy bacillusNature, 2001