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- Title
Buruli ulcer: reductive evolution enhances pathogenicity of Mycobacterium ulcerans.
- Authors
Demangel, Caroline; Stinear, Timothy P.; Cole, Stewart T.
- Abstract
Buruli ulcer is an emerging human disease caused by infection with a slow-growing pathogen, Mycobacterium ulcerans, that produces mycolactone, a cytotoxin with immunomodulatory properties. The disease is associated with wetlands in certain tropical countries, and evidence for a role of insects in transmission of this pathogen is growing. Comparative genomic analysis has revealed that M. ulcerans arose from Mycobacterium marinum, a ubiquitous fast-growing aquatic species, by horizontal transfer of a virulence plasmid that carries a cluster of genes for mycolactone production, followed by reductive evolution. Here, the ecology, microbiology, evolutionary genomics and immunopathology of Buruli ulcer are reviewed.
- Subjects
ULCERS; GENETIC research; HEREDITY; DISEASES; MYCOBACTERIUM
- Publication
Nature Reviews Microbiology, 2009, Vol 7, Issue 1, p50
- ISSN
1740-1526
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/nrmicro2077