title: Brucella abortusStrain 2308 Wisconsin Genome: Importance of the Definition of Reference Strains.
abstract: Brucellosis is a bacterial infectious disease affecting a wide range of mammals and a neglected zoonosis caused by species of the genetically homogenous genusBrucella. As in most studies on bacterial diseases, research in brucellosis is carried out by using reference strains as canonical models to understand the mechanisms underlying host pathogen interactions. We performed whole genome sequencing analysis of the reference strainB. abortus2308 routinely used in our laboratory, including manual curated annotation accessible as an editable version through a link at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brucella#Genomics. Comparison of this genome with two publically available 2308 genomes showed significant differences, particularly indels related to insertional elements, suggesting variability related to the transposition of these elements within the same strain. Considering the outcome of high resolution genomic techniques in the bacteriology field, the conventional concept of strain definition needs to be revised.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Investigación en Enfermedades Tropicales, Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica Heredia, Costa Rica.
authors.forename: Marcela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suárez-Esquivel
authors.affiliation: Programa de Investigación en Enfermedades Tropicales, Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica Heredia, Costa Rica.
authors.forename: Nazareth
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Villalobos
authors.affiliation: Programa de Investigación en Enfermedades Tropicales, Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica Heredia, Costa Rica.
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Castillo-Zeledón
authors.affiliation: Programa de Investigación en Enfermedades Tropicales, Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica Heredia, Costa Rica.
authors.forename: César
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jiménez-Rojas
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University Greenville, NC, USA.
authors.forename: R Martin
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Roop Ii
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas "Dr. Rodolfo A. Ugalde", Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Grupo Pecuario, Centro Atómico Ezeiza Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Diego J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Comerci
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Tropicales, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica San José, Costa Rica.
authors.forename: Elías
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Barquero-Calvo
authors.affiliation: Programa de Investigación en Enfermedades Tropicales, Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Universidad Nacional de Costa RicaHeredia, Costa Rica; Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Tropicales, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa RicaSan José, Costa Rica.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chacón-Díaz
authors.affiliation: Center for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Clayton C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Caswell
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Sanger InstituteHinxton, UK; Department of Functional and Comparative Genomics, Institute of Integrative Biology, University of LiverpoolLiverpool, UK.
authors.forename: Kate S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Tropicales, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica San José, Costa Rica.
authors.forename: Esteban
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chaves-Olarte
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Sanger InstituteHinxton, UK; The London School of Hygiene and Tropical MedicineLondon, UK.
authors.forename: Nicholas R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Thomson
authors.affiliation: Programa de Investigación en Enfermedades Tropicales, Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Universidad Nacional de Costa RicaHeredia, Costa Rica; Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Universidad de Costa RicaSan José, Costa Rica.
authors.forename: Edgardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche en Biologie des Microorganismes, Université de Namur Namur Belgium.
authors.forename: Jean J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Letesson
authors.affiliation: Unité de Recherche en Biologie des Microorganismes, Université de Namur Namur Belgium.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: De Bolle
authors.affiliation: Programa de Investigación en Enfermedades Tropicales, Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Universidad Nacional de Costa RicaHeredia, Costa Rica; Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Tropicales, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa RicaSan José, Costa Rica.
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guzmán-Verri
keywords: Brucella; Brucella abortus; WGS; reference genome; reference strain