Sequencing and analysis of chromosome 1 of Eimeria tenella reveals a unique segmental organization.
Eimeria tenella is an intracellular protozoan parasite that infects the intestinal tracts of domestic fowl and causes coccidiosis, a serious and sometimes lethal enteritis. Eimeria falls in the same phylum (Apicomplexa) as several human and animal parasites such as Cryptosporidium, Toxoplasma, and the malaria parasite, Plasmodium. Here we report the sequencing and analysis of the first chromosome of E. tenella, a chromosome believed to carry loci associated with drug resistance and known to differ between virulent and attenuated strains of the parasite. The chromosome--which appears to be representative of the genome--is gene-dense and rich in simple-sequence repeats, many of which appear to give rise to repetitive amino acid tracts in the predicted proteins. Most striking is the segmentation of the chromosome into repeat-rich regions peppered with transposon-like elements and telomere-like repeats, alternating with repeat-free regions. Predicted genes differ in character between the two types of segment, and the repeat-rich regions appear to be associated with strain-to-strain variation.
Ling
King-Hwa
KH
Malaysia Genome Institute, UKM-MTDC Smart Technology Centre, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor DE, Malaysia.
Rajandream
Marie-Adele
MA
Rivailler
Pierre
P
Ivens
Alasdair
A
Yap
Soon-Joo
SJ
Madeira
Alda M B N
AM
Mungall
Karen
K
Billington
Karen
K
Yee
Wai-Yan
WY
Bankier
Alan T
AT
Carroll
Fionnadh
F
Durham
Alan M
AM
Peters
Nicholas
N
Loo
Shu-San
SS
Isa
Mohd Noor Mat
MN
Novaes
Jeniffer
J
Quail
Michael
M
Rosli
Rozita
R
Nor Shamsudin
Mariana
M
Sobreira
Tiago J P
TJ
Tivey
Adrian R
AR
Wai
Siew-Fun
SF
White
Sarah
S
Wu
Xikun
X
Kerhornou
Arnaud
A
Blake
Damer
D
Mohamed
Rahmah
R
Shirley
Martin
M
Gruber
Arthur
A
Berriman
Matthew
M
Tomley
Fiona
F
Dear
Paul H
PH
Wan
Kiew-Lian
KL
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D022004:Chromosome Structures / Q000235:genetics*; D019295:Computational Biology; D016786:Eimeria tenella / Q000235:genetics*; D017125:Genes, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics*; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA