title: Towards a universal group B Streptococcus vaccine using multistrain genome analysis.
abstract: Genomics has revolutionized the way in which novel vaccine candidates are identified for the development of efficacious vaccines. Reverse vaccinology, whereby all candidates of interest are identified by analysis of a pathogen's genome, enables characterization of many candidates simultaneously. It accelerates the initial steps of vaccine development and greatly increases the chances of obtaining reliable candidates or cocktails thereof. The availability of one or two genome sequences for any given pathogen provides access to strain-specific vaccine candidates but often fails to identify candidates that would confer general protection. The analysis of multiple genomes of group B Streptococcus revealed tremendous diversity and identified candidates that are not shared by all the strains sequenced, but provide general protection when combined.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbial Genomics, The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), 9712 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD 20850, USA. tettelin@tigr.org
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tettelin
authors.forename: Duccio
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Medini
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Donati
authors.forename: Vega
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Masignani
mesh_terms: D015195:Drug Design; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D023281:Genomics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D022541:Streptococcal Vaccines / Q000235:genetics*; D013292:Streptococcus agalactiae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D022541:Streptococcal Vaccines; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic