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Pathogens in decay

Abstract

Three bacterial genomes that have recently been published identify common evolutionary strategies among extremely disparate organisms. All of these species inhabit specialized niches in association with eukaryotic organisms, and all of them show evidence of the long-term genome decay that accompanies the acquisition of the restricted lifestyle of a pathogen or endosymbiont.

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Figure 1: These photographs of a flea (a) and two ticks (b) were taken during a 1972 study of disease carriers and pests found in and around migrant labour camps.
Figure 2

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DATABASES

Entrez

Chlamydia pneumoniae

Escherichia coli

Leifsonia xyli subsp. xyli CTCB07

Rickettsia conorii

Rickettsia prowazekii

Rickettsia typhi

Parachlamydia sp. UWE25

Xylella fastidiosa

FURTHER INFORMATION

The Pathogen Sequencing Unit

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Cerdeño-Tárraga, A., Thomson, N. & Parkhill, J. Pathogens in decay. Nat Rev Microbiol 2, 774–775 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro1009

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro1009

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