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Infection and Immunity, December 2002, p. 7063-7072, Vol. 70, No. 12
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.12.7063-7072.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Comparative Genomics Identifies the Genetic Islands That Distinguish Neisseria meningitidis, the Agent of Cerebrospinal Meningitis, from Other Neisseria Species

Agnès Perrin,1 Stéphane Bonacorsi,2 Etienne Carbonnelle,1 Driss Talibi,3 Philippe Dessen,4 Xavier Nassif,1* and Colin Tinsley1

INSERM U5701 Faculté de Médecine Necker, 75015 Paris,1 Laboratoire d'Études de Génétique Bactérienne, Hôpital Robert-Débré, 75019 Paris,2 Service de Bioinformatique Infobiogen, 94801 Villejuif, France,4 Eurogentec, Parc Scientifique du Sart Tilman, 4102 Seraing, Belgium3

Received 14 May 2002/ Returned for modification 24 July 2002/ Accepted 23 August 2002

Neisseria meningitidis colonizes the nasopharynx and, unlike commensal Neisseria species, is capable of entering the bloodstream, crossing the blood-brain barrier, and invading the meninges. The other pathogenic Neisseria species, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, generally causes an infection which is localized to the genitourinary tract. In order to investigate the genetic basis of this difference in disease profiles, we used a strategy of genomic comparison. We used DNA arrays to compare the genome of N. meningitidis with those of N. gonorrhoeae and Neisseria lactamica, a commensal of the nasopharynx. We thus identified sequences conserved among a representative set of virulent strains which are either specific to N. meningitidis or shared with N. gonorrhoeae but absent from N. lactamica. Though these bacteria express dramatically different pathogenicities, these meningococcal sequences were limited and, in contrast to what has been found in other pathogenic bacterial species, they are not organized in large chromosomal islands.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: INSERM U5701 Faculté de Médecine Necker, 156 rue de Vaugirard, 75015 Paris, France. Phone: 01 40 61 53 79. Fax: 01 40 61 55 92. E-mail: u570{at}necker.fr.

Editor: A. D. O'Brien

Infection and Immunity, December 2002, p. 7063-7072, Vol. 70, No. 12
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.12.7063-7072.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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