TY - JOUR AU - Rondini, Simona AU - Käser, Michael AU - Stinear, Timothy AU - Tessier, Michel AU - Mangold, Cyrill AU - Dernick, Gregor AU - Naegeli, Martin AU - Portaels, Françoise AU - Certa, Ulrich AU - Pluschke, Gerd T1 - Ongoing Genome Reduction in Mycobacterium ulcerans T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2007 VL - 13 IS - 7 SP - 1008 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Elucidation of the transmission, epidemiology, and evolution of Mycobacterium ulcerans, the causative agent of Buruli ulcer, is hampered by the striking lack of genetic diversity of this emerging pathogen. However, by using a prototype plasmid-based microarray that covered 10% of the genome, we found multiple genomic DNA deletions among 30 M. ulcerans clinical isolates of diverse geographic origins. Many of the changes appear to have been mediated by insertion sequence (IS) elements IS2404 and IS2606, which have high copy numbers. Classification of the deleted genes according to their biological functions supports the hypothesis that M. ulcerans has recently evolved from the generalist environmental M. marinum to become a niche-adapted specialist. The substantial genomic diversity, along with a prototype microarray that covered a small portion of the genome, suggests that a genome-wide microarray will make available a genetic fingerprinting method with the high resolution required for microepidemiologic studies. KW - Mycobacterium ulcerans KW - deletional genomic diversity KW - microarray KW - strain variation KW - research DO - 10.3201/eid1307.060205 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/13/7/06-0205_article ER - End of Reference