ArticlePloS one2011
Genomes of the most dangerous epidemic bacteria have a virulence repertoire characterized by fewer genes but more toxin-antitoxin modules.
Article in PloS one, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers.
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Who cites it
64 citing papers in PubMed.
- Detection ofVirulence · 2025Article
- Comparative genomics-based insights intoApplied and environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- The VapBC-4 Characterization Indicates It Is a Bona Fide Toxin-Antitoxin Module ofMicroorganisms · 2025Article
- The Toxin of VapBC-1 Toxin-Antitoxin Module fromMicroorganisms · 2024Article
- VapC10 toxin of the legume symbiont Sinorhizobium meliloti targets tRNASer and controls intracellular lifestyle.The ISME journal · 2024Article
- Tale of Twin Bifunctional Second Messenger (p)ppGpp Synthetases and Their Function in Mycobacteria.ACS omega · 2023Review
- Toxin-antitoxin systems in bacterial pathogenesis.Heliyon · 2023Review
- The endogenous Coxiella burnetii plasmid encodes a functional toxin-antitoxin system.Molecular microbiology · 2022Article
- The Evolution of a Specialized, Highly Virulent Fish Pathogen through Gene Loss and Acquisition of Host-Specific Survival Mechanisms.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2022Article
- Discovery of Small-Molecule VapC1 Nuclease Inhibitors by Virtual Screening and Scaffold Hopping from an Atomic Structure Revealing Protein-Protein Interactions with a Native VapB1 Inhibitor.Journal of chemical information and modeling · 2022Article
- Genome reorganization during emergence of host-associatedMicrobial genomics · 2021Article
- Genome Reduction Is Associated with Bacterial Pathogenicity across Different Scales of Temporal and Ecological Divergence.Molecular biology and evolution · 2021Article
- Complete, closed and curated genome sequences ofMicrobial genomics · 2021Article
- Article
- Large-Scale Comparison of Toxin and Antitoxins inToxins · 2020Article
- Epidemiology, Clinical Aspects, Laboratory Diagnosis and Treatment of Rickettsial Diseases in the Mediterranean Area During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review of the Literature.Mediterranean journal of hematology and infectious diseases · 2020Review
- Bioinformatic and mutational studies of related toxin-antitoxin pairs inThe Journal of biological chemistry · 2019Article
- Type I Toxin-Antitoxin Systems in Clostridia.Toxins · 2019Review
- The toxin from a ParDE toxin-antitoxin system found in Pseudomonas aeruginosa offers protection to cells challenged with anti-gyrase antibiotics.Molecular microbiology · 2019Article
- Molecular Weapons Contribute to Intracellular Rhizobia Accommodation Within Legume Host Cell.Frontiers in plant science · 2019Review
4 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWe conducted a comparative genomic study based on a neutral approach to identify genome specificities associated with the virulence capacity of pathogenic bacteria. We also determined whether virulence is dictated by rules, or if it is the result of individual evolutionary histories. We systematically compared the genomes of the 12 most dangerous pandemic bacteria for humans ("bad bugs") to their closest non-epidemic related species ("controls"). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL
findingsWe found several significantly different features in the "bad bugs", one of which was a smaller genome that likely resulted from a degraded recombination and repair system. The 10 Cluster of Orthologous Group (COG) functional categories revealed a significantly smaller number of genes in the "bad bugs", which lacked mostly transcription, signal transduction mechanisms, cell motility, energy production and conversion, and metabolic and regulatory functions. A few genes were identified as virulence factors, including secretion system proteins. Five "bad bugs" showed a greater number of poly (A) tails compared to the controls, whereas an elevated number of poly (A) tails was found to be strongly correlated to a low GC% content. The "bad bugs" had fewer tandem repeat sequences compared to controls. Moreover, the results obtained from a principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the "bad bugs" had surprisingly more toxin-antitoxin modules than did the controls. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We conclude that pathogenic capacity is not the result of "virulence factors" but is the outcome of a virulent gene repertoire resulting from reduced genome repertoires. Toxin-antitoxin systems could participate in the virulence repertoire, but they may have developed independently of selfish evolution.
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