title: Whole-genome expression analysis of Mycobacterium leprae and its clinical application.
abstract: The whole-genome sequence analysis of Mycobacterium leprae, which was completed in 2001, revealed the characteristics of this microbe's genomic structure. Half of the M. leprae genome consists of a limited number of protein-coding genes and the rest comprises non-coding regions and pseudogenes. We performed membrane array and tiling array analyses to analyze the gene-expression profile of the M. leprae genome and found that pseudogenes and non-coding regions were expressed similarly to coding regions at the RNA level. The RNA expressions were confirmed by real-time PCR analysis. Expression of these RNAs in clinical samples showed varying patterns among patients, thus indicating that the analysis of RNA expression patterns, including non-coding regions and pseudogenes, may be useful for understanding the pathological state, prognosis, and assessment of therapeutic progress in leprosy.
authors.affiliation: Leprosy Research Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo 189-0002, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akama
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Kazunari
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanigawa
authors.forename: Kazuaki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kawashima
authors.forename: Huhehasi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sue
authors.forename: Aya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yoshihara
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ishido
authors.forename: Norihisa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ishii
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D016680:Genome, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007918:Leprosy / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D009166:Mycobacterium leprae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D011379:Prognosis; D011544:Pseudogenes / Q000235:genetics; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D022661:RNA, Untranslated / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D022661:RNA, Untranslated