title: The genome sequence of the facultative intracellular pathogen Brucella melitensis.
abstract: Brucella melitensis is a facultative intracellular bacterial pathogen that causes abortion in goats and sheep and Malta fever in humans. The genome of B. melitensis strain 16M was sequenced and found to contain 3,294,935 bp distributed over two circular chromosomes of 2,117,144 bp and 1,177,787 bp encoding 3,197 ORFs. By using the bioinformatics suite ERGO, 2,487 (78%) ORFs were assigned functions. The origins of replication of the two chromosomes are similar to those of other alpha-proteobacteria. Housekeeping genes, including those involved in DNA replication, transcription, translation, core metabolism, and cell wall biosynthesis, are distributed on both chromosomes. Type I, II, and III secretion systems are absent, but genes encoding sec-dependent, sec-independent, and flagella-specific type III, type IV, and type V secretion systems as well as adhesins, invasins, and hemolysins were identified. Several features of the B. melitensis genome are similar to those of the symbiotic Sinorhizobium meliloti.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Biology and Medicine, University of Scranton, Scranton, PA 18510, USA. vimbm@aol.com
authors.forename: Vito G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: DelVecchio
authors.forename: Vinayak
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kapatral
authors.forename: Rajendra J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Redkar
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Patra
authors.forename: Cesar
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mujer
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Los
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ivanova
authors.forename: Iain
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Anamitra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bhattacharyya
authors.forename: Athanasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lykidis
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Reznik
authors.forename: Lynn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jablonski
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Larsen
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: D'Souza
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bernal
authors.forename: Mikhail
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mazur
authors.forename: Eugene
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Goltsman
authors.forename: Eugene
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Selkov
authors.forename: Philip H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Elzer
authors.forename: Sue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hagius
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: O'Callaghan
authors.forename: Jean-Jacques
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Letesson
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Haselkorn
authors.forename: Nikos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kyrpides
authors.forename: Ross
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Overbeek
mesh_terms: D017347:Brucella melitensis / Q000235:genetics*; D002875:Chromosomes; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D008954:Models, Biological; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D018741:Replication Origin; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids