The genomic sequence of the accidental pathogen Legionella pneumophila

Minchen Chien, Irina Morozova, Shundi Shi, Huitao Sheng, Jing Chen, Shawn M. Gomez, Gifty Asamani, Kendra Hill, John Nuara, Marc Feder, Justin Rineer, Joseph J. Greenberg, Valeria Steshenko, Samantha H. Park, Baohui Zhao, Elita Teplitskaya, John R. Edwards, Sergey Pampou, Anthi Georghiou, I. Chun ChouWilliam Iannuccilli, Michael E. Ulz, Dae H. Kim, Alex Geringer-Sameth, Curtis Goldsberry, Pavel Morozov, Stuart G. Fischer, Gil Segal, Xiaoyan Qu, Andrey Rzhetsky, Peisen Zhang, Eftihia Cayanis, Pieter J. De Jong, Jingyue Ju, Sergey Kalachikov, Howard A. Shuman, James J. Russo*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

396 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present the genomic sequence of Legionella pneumophila, the bacterial agent of Legionnaires' disease, a potentially fatal pneumonia acquired from aerosolized contaminated fresh water. The genome includes a 45-kilobase pair element that can exist in chromosomal and episomal forms, selective expansions of important gene families, genes for unexpected metabolic pathways, and previously unknown candidate virulence determinants. We highlight the genes that may account for Legionella's ability to survive in protozoa, mammalian macrophages, and inhospitable environmental niches and that may define new therapeutic targets.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1966-1968
Number of pages3
JournalScience
Volume305
Issue number5692
DOIs
StatePublished - 24 Sep 2004

Funding

FundersFunder number
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious DiseasesR01AI023549

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