TY - JOUR T1 - Structural flexibility in the Burkholderia mallei genome JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of AmericaProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Y1 - 2004 A1 - Nierman, William C. A1 - DeShazer, David A1 - Kim, H. Stanley A1 - Tettelin, Hervé A1 - Nelson, Karen E. A1 - Feldblyum, Tamara A1 - Ulrich, Ricky L. A1 - Ronning, Catherine M. A1 - Brinkac, Lauren M. A1 - Daugherty, Sean C. A1 - Davidsen, Tanja D. A1 - DeBoy, Robert T. A1 - Dimitrov, George A1 - Dodson, Robert J. A1 - Durkin, A. Scott A1 - Gwinn, Michelle L. A1 - Haft, Daniel H. A1 - Khouri, Hoda A1 - Kolonay, James F. A1 - Madupu, Ramana A1 - Mohammoud, Yasmin A1 - Nelson, William C. A1 - Radune, Diana A1 - Romero, Claudia M. A1 - Sarria, Saul A1 - J. Selengut A1 - Shamblin, Christine A1 - Sullivan, Steven A. A1 - White, Owen A1 - Yu, Yan A1 - Zafar, Nikhat A1 - Zhou, Liwei A1 - Fraser, Claire M. KW - Animals KW - Base Composition KW - Base Sequence KW - Burkholderia mallei KW - Chromosomes, Bacterial KW - Cricetinae KW - Genome, Bacterial KW - Glanders KW - Liver KW - Mesocricetus KW - Molecular Sequence Data KW - Multigene Family KW - Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis KW - Open Reading Frames KW - virulence AB - The complete genome sequence of Burkholderia mallei ATCC 23344 provides insight into this highly infectious bacterium's pathogenicity and evolutionary history. B. mallei, the etiologic agent of glanders, has come under renewed scientific investigation as a result of recent concerns about its past and potential future use as a biological weapon. Genome analysis identified a number of putative virulence factors whose function was supported by comparative genome hybridization and expression profiling of the bacterium in hamster liver in vivo. The genome contains numerous insertion sequence elements that have mediated extensive deletions and rearrangements of the genome relative to Burkholderia pseudomallei. The genome also contains a vast number (>12,000) of simple sequence repeats. Variation in simple sequence repeats in key genes can provide a mechanism for generating antigenic variation that may account for the mammalian host's inability to mount a durable adaptive immune response to a B. mallei infection. VL - 101 N1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15377793?dopt=Abstract ER -