title: Postgenomics of Neisseria meningitidis: an update.
abstract: Neisseria meningitidis infection represents a major life-threatening bacterial disease worldwide. Genomics has revolutionized every aspect of the field of microbiology. As a consequence of genome sequencing, the postgenomic era commenced 15 years ago. Comparative genomics, functional genomics and proteomics, as well as a combination of these techniques, will play important roles in providing vital information regarding bacterial biological complexity and pathogenic traits, and accelerate the development of therapeutic drugs and vaccines for combating infections. This review summarizes the current knowledge regarding different approaches aimed to shed light on meningococcal biology and pathogenesis, and to accelerate the development and characterization of vaccines against pathogenic meningococci.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia Molecolare, Via Fiorentina 1, Università degli Studi di Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy. bernardini@unisi.it
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bernardini
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Braconi
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lusini
authors.forename: Annalisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Santucci
mesh_terms: D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D022401:Meningococcal Vaccines; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D022401:Meningococcal Vaccines