Abstract
Comparisons of genome sequence data between different strains and isolates of Neisseria spp., such as Neisseria gonorrhoeae, reveal that over the evolutionary history of these organisms, large scale chromosomal rearrangements have occurred. Factors within the genomes, such as repetitive sequences and prophage, are believed to have contributed to these observations. However, the timescale in which rearrangements occur is not clear, nor whether it might be expected for them to happen in the laboratory. In this study, N. gonorrhoeae was repeatedly passaged in the laboratory and assessed for large scale chromosomal rearrangements. Using gonococcal strain NCCP11945, for which there is a complete genome sequence, cultures were passaged for eight weeks in the laboratory. The resulting genomic DNA was assessed using Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis, comparing the results to the predicted results from the genome sequence data. Three cultures generated Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis patterns that varied from the genomic data and were further investigated for potential chromosomal rearrangements.
Highlights
Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a strict human pathogen and the causative bacteria of the second most common sexually transmitted infection, gonorrhoea
Large scale rearrangements have been shown in silico between genome sequences of N. gonorrhoeae strains FA1090 and NCCP11945 [2]
pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) from the cultures showed a majority of reproducible bands that correlated to the predicted band sizes from genomic data
Summary
Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a strict human pathogen and the causative bacteria of the second most common sexually transmitted infection, gonorrhoea. As of 2008, the complete circularized genome sequence of N. gonorrhoeae strain NCCP11945, from an infected woman in Korea, became the second publically available gonococcal genome [1]. The availability of this second genome sequence led to interesting comparisons between N. gonorrhoeae strains [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]. Large scale rearrangements have been shown in silico between genome sequences of N. gonorrhoeae strains FA1090 and NCCP11945 [2] In comparing these two gonococcal strains, inversions and rearrangements were noted, encompassing much of the genome [2]. Within strain rearrangements have been noted, including a large inversion of approximately 26 kb between pilin variants N137 and N138 of N. gonorrhoeae strain MS11, due to recombination between homologous sequences [18]
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