title: Buruli ulcer: reductive evolution enhances pathogenicity of Mycobacterium ulcerans.
abstract: Buruli ulcer is an emerging human disease caused by infection with a slow-growing pathogen, Mycobacterium ulcerans, that produces mycolactone, a cytotoxin with immunomodulatory properties. The disease is associated with wetlands in certain tropical countries, and evidence for a role of insects in transmission of this pathogen is growing. Comparative genomic analysis has revealed that M. ulcerans arose from Mycobacterium marinum, a ubiquitous fast-growing aquatic species, by horizontal transfer of a virulence plasmid that carries a cluster of genes for mycolactone production, followed by reductive evolution. Here, the ecology, microbiology, evolutionary genomics and immunopathology of Buruli ulcer are reviewed.
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur, UP Pathogénomique Mycobactérienne Intégrée, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Demangel
authors.forename: Timothy P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Stinear
authors.forename: Stewart T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Cole
mesh_terms: D054312:Buruli Ulcer / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D019911:Mycobacterium ulcerans / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*