Human Genome Project Information Archive
1990–2003

Microbial Genome News

TIGR Sequencing Six More Microbes

The DOE Microbial Genome Program (MGP) aims to determine the sequence of bacteria having potential usefulness in energy, environmental, and evolutionary research. (http://www.er.doe.gov/production/ober/HELSRD_top.html) With the support of MGP, The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and its collaborators are sequencing the genomes of an additional six microbes.

• Pseudomonas putida (5.0 Mb)
• Thiobacillus ferroxidans (2.9 Mb)
• Desulfovibrio vulgaris (1.7 Mb)
• Caulobacter crescentus (3.8 Mb) with Lucille Shapiro (Stanford University) and Bert Ely (University of South Carolina)
• Chlorobium tepidum (2.1 Mb)
• Dehalococcoides ethenogenes

Tuberculosis Microbe Sequenced
New Drugs, Vaccines May Result
In June researchers reported obtaining the DNA sequence of the complete 4.4-Mb genome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the organism that causes tuberculosis. The sequence is the first completed at The Wellcome Trust Pathogen Genome Unit at the Sanger Centre, U.K.

An estimated 2.9 million people died from this chronic infectious disease in 1997, and concern is growing over new antibiotic-resistant strains that have emerged in recent years. According to a Nature online special report on the global tuberculosis epidemic (http://www.nature.com), about one in every three people in the world is infected with M. tuberculosis, and each has an estimated 10% lifetime risk of progressing to clinical disease. Scientists hope that knowledge of the DNA sequence will provide clues to designing more effective therapeutic agents and vaccines.

The sequence, reported in the June 11 issue of Nature (393, 537-44), is accessible from the Sanger Centre Web site (http://www.sanger.ac.uk/Projects/M_tuberculosis).

Searching TB Genome
A tool is available through the South African National Bioinformatics Institute [http://www.uwc.ac.za/Faculties/NS/SANBI/Pages/default.aspx] for searching and extracting genome sequence and open reading frames from the genome of M. tuberculosis. Searches also can be performed against incomplete M. leprae data. (http://ziggy.sanbi.ac.za/tb/tbsearch.htm)

The electronic form of the newsletter may be cited in the following style:
Human Genome Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Human Genome News (v9n3).