Genomic sequence analysis and characterization of Sneathia amnii sp. nov

BMC Genomics

Research

Mark A Reimers¹  Michael D Harwich²  Jennifer M Fettweis²  Kimberly K Jefferson²  Gregory A Buck³  João MP Alves³  Myrna G Serrano³ 

[1] Department of Biostatistics, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, PO Box 980032, 830 East Main Street, 23298-0032, Richmond, VA, USA;Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, PO Box 980678, 1101 E. Marshall Street, 23298-0678, Richmond, VA, USA;Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, PO Box 980678, 1101 E. Marshall Street, 23298-0678, Richmond, VA, USA;Center for the Study of Biological Complexity, Virginia Commonwealth University, PO Box 842030, 1015 Floyd Avenue, 23284-2030, Richmond, VA, USA;

关键词: Amniotic Fluid;    Bacterial Vaginosis;    Preterm Labor;    Cluster Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat;    Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2164-13-S8-S4

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundBacteria of the genus Sneathia are emerging as potential pathogens of the female reproductive tract. Species of Sneathia, which were formerly grouped with Leptotrichia, can be part of the normal microbiota of the genitourinary tracts of men and women, but they are also associated with a variety of clinical conditions including bacterial vaginosis, preeclampsia, preterm labor, spontaneous abortion, post-partum bacteremia and other invasive infections. Sneathia species also exhibit a significant correlation with sexually transmitted diseases and cervical cancer. Because Sneathia species are fastidious and rarely cultured successfully in vitro; and the genomes of members of the genus had until now not been characterized, very little is known about the physiology or the virulence of these organisms.ResultsHere, we describe a novel species, Sneathia amnii sp. nov, which closely resembles bacteria previously designated "Leptotrichia amnionii". As part of the Vaginal Human Microbiome Project at VCU, a vaginal isolate of S. amnii sp. nov. was identified, successfully cultured and bacteriologically cloned. The biochemical characteristics and virulence properties of the organism were examined in vitro, and the genome of the organism was sequenced, annotated and analyzed. The analysis revealed a reduced circular genome of ~1.34 Mbp, containing ~1,282 protein-coding genes. Metabolic reconstruction of the bacterium reflected its biochemical phenotype, and several genes potentially associated with pathogenicity were identified.ConclusionsBacteria with complex growth requirements frequently remain poorly characterized and, as a consequence, their roles in health and disease are unclear. Elucidation of the physiology and identification of genes putatively involved in the metabolism and virulence of S. amnii may lead to a better understanding of the role of this potential pathogen in bacterial vaginosis, preterm birth, and other issues associated with vaginal and reproductive health.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Harwich et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.