Footprint of positive selection in Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum genome sequences suggests adaptive microevolution of the syphilis pathogen

• Published in: PLoS neglected tropical diseases Vol. 6; no. 6; p. e1698
• Main Authors: Giacani, Lorenzo, Chattopadhyay, Sujay, Centurion-Lara, Arturo, Jeffrey, Brendan M, Le, Hoavan T, Molini, Barbara J, Lukehart, Sheila A, Sokurenko, Evgeni V, Rockey, Daniel D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 01.06.2012; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adaptation, Biological; Animals; Antibodies; Antigens; Base Sequence; Biology; Care and treatment; Computational Biology; Diagnosis; Disease Models, Animal; DNA sequencing; DNA, Bacterial - genetics; Evolution, Molecular; Gene expression; Genetic aspects; Genome, Bacterial; Genomes; Genomics; Humans; Infections; Medicine; Methods; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutation; Nucleotide sequencing; Pathogenesis; Pathogens; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; Rabbits; Selection, Genetic; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; Syphilis; Syphilis - microbiology; Treponema pallidum; Treponema pallidum - classification; Treponema pallidum - genetics; Tropical diseases; Virulence; United States; United States > US; Chicago Illinois; Rabbits; Genome, Bacterial; Humans; Computational Biology; Selection, Genetic; Adaptation, Biological; Molecular Sequence Data; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; DNA, Bacterial; Animals; Base Sequence; Syphilis; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; Disease Models, Animal; Evolution, Molecular; Treponema pallidum

In the rabbit model of syphilis, infection phenotypes associated with the Nichols and Chicago strains of Treponema pallidum (T. pallidum), though similar, are not identical. Between these strains, significant differences are found in expression of, and antibody responses to some candidate virulence...