title: Genome sequence of the cat pathogen, Chlamydophila felis.
abstract: Chlamydophila felis (Chlamydia psittaci feline pneumonitis agent) is a worldwide spread pathogen for pneumonia and conjunctivitis in cats. Herein, we determined the entire genomic DNA sequence of the Japanese C. felis strain Fe/C-56 to understand the mechanism of diseases caused by this pathogen. The C. felis genome is composed of a circular 1,166,239 bp chromosome encoding 1005 protein-coding genes and a 7552 bp circular plasmid. Comparison of C. felis gene contents with other Chlamydia species shows that 795 genes are common in the family Chlamydiaceae species and 47 genes are specific to C. felis. Phylogenetic analysis of the common genes reveals that most of the orthologue sets exhibit a similar divergent pattern but 14 C. felis genes accumulate more mutations, implicating that these genes may be involved in the evolutional adaptation to the C. felis-specific niche. Gene distribution and orthologue analyses reveal that two distinctive regions, i.e. the plasticity zone and frequently gene-translocated regions (FGRs), may play important but different roles for chlamydial genome evolution. The genomic DNA sequence of C. felis provides information for comprehension of diseases and elucidation of the chlamydial evolution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Yamaguchi University School of Medicine, Ube, Yamaguchi 755-8505, Japan. yazuma@yamaguchi-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yoshinao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Azuma
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hirakawa
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Mohd Akhlakur
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.forename: Harumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Shigeki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mitaku
authors.forename: Hidehiro
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Toh
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: Kazuro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugi
authors.forename: Hideo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Hideto
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukushi
authors.forename: Masahira
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hattori
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kuhara
authors.forename: Mutsunori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shirai
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D000818:Animals; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D002415:Cats; D023521:Chlamydophila Infections / Q000662:veterinary*; D016993:Chlamydophila pneumoniae / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D010957:Plasmids; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000662:veterinary*; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014178:Translocation, Genetic
chemical_list: D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C094163:IncA protein, bacteria; D010750:Phosphoproteins