Sunday, August 1, 2010
Pacific Concourse (Hyatt Regency San Francisco)
In recent years, the number of drug- and multidrug-resistant microbial strains has increased rapidly. Deciphering the molecular basis of pathogenicity and identifying novel anti-infectives has become a high priority in global health care. Next-generation sequencing provides new opportunities to study pathogens, and is becoming routinely used in the investigation of genome-wide differences between clinical isolates. Here, we use Genedata Selector™ to explore, at the molecular level, a diverse spectrum of pathogenicity profiles across different species and strains isolated from a clinical environment. We present as a proof of concept a comprehensive set of Listeria genome sequences coupled with phenotype information to provide a reference for comparison with new pathogenic strains. Large-scale comparative genomics help to identify biomarkers and predict pathogenicity. In addition, a systems biology approach helps to identify new molecules involved in invasion and pathogenicity of Listeria, such as small non-coding RNAs. Here, we report the integration of diverse experimental results and current knowledge about the sRNAs of this socioeconomically relevant Gram-positive pathogen. Finally, we discuss the use of modified peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) as a novel tool to inactivate potential sRNA, and their applications in rapid and specific detection of pathogenic bacteria.