PNAS：一种深海细菌的毒力基因

美国马里兰大学生物信息学与计算生物学中心一项研究发现，深海细菌antiquarius弧菌的基因组含有常见于涉及人类疾病的弧菌物种的毒力基因，这提示病原性基因可能更多地起到了一种基础的生态作用而非致病作用。

在1999年，Alvin 和 Nautile潜下东太平洋从深海热液喷口内硫化物烟囱包围着的水中抽取样品的时候后就已经分离出四个嗜中温细菌，包括弧菌物种;基因组、功能以及系统发育分析表明一个有趣的混合基因的功能与适应和动物共生的协会,也揭示了存在在弧菌毒力基因的常见物种对人类致病。这些毒力基因的存在于一个生态的物种弧菌是令人惊讶的。这样我们可以看出致病性基因提供一个更基本的生态作用不仅仅是引起人类疾病的因果关系。

原文链接：

Deep-sea hydrothermal vent bacteria related to human pathogenic Vibrio species

原文摘要：

Vibrio species are both ubiquitous and abundant in marine coastal waters, estuaries, ocean sediment, and aquaculture settings worldwide. We report here the isolation, characterization, and genome sequence of a novel Vibrio species, Vibrio antiquarius, isolated from a mesophilic bacterial community associated with hydrothermal vents located along the East Pacific Rise, near the southwest coast of Mexico. Genomic and phenotypic analysis revealed V. antiquarius is closely related to pathogenic Vibrio species, namely Vibrio alginolyticus, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio harveyi, and Vibrio vulnificus, but sufficiently divergent to warrant a separate species status. The V. antiquarius genome encodes genes and operons with ecological functions relevant to the environment conditions of the deep sea and also harbors factors known to be involved in human disease caused by freshwater, coastal, and brackish water vibrios. The presence of virulence factors in this deep-sea Vibrio species suggests a far more fundamental role of these factors for their bacterial host. Comparative genomics revealed a variety of genomic events that may have provided an important driving force in V. antiquarius evolution, facilitating response to environmental conditions of the deep sea.

doi: 10.1073/PNAS.1503928112

作者：Nur A. Hasan