title: My life with Yersinia.
abstract: This review is based on the opening lecture I was honored to give during the 9th International Symposium on Yersinia in Lexington, Kentucky in October 2006. I present some topics that have been close to my interest during the past 25 years with some historical anecdotes. For example, how detection of intervening sequences in Yersinia enterocolitica rDNA genes resulted in development of microbial diagnostic applications. How the adhesin YadA was detected and named and what do we know of its function now? What was the first pseudogene sequenced in Yersinia pestis? I will also discuss Yersinia lipopolysaccharide, bacteriophages and serum resistance mechanisms which we have worked on lately.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland. mikael.skurnik@helsinki.fi
authors.forename: Mikael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Skurnik
mesh_terms: D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D003167:Complement Activation; D005387:Finland; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012106:Research / Q000266:history; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015007:Yersinia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity; D015009:Yersinia Infections / Q000266:history / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; C064832:YadA protein, Yersinia