Application of Spiroplasma melliferum proteogenomic profiling for the discovery of virulence factors and pathogenicity mechanisms in host-associated spiroplasmas

J Proteome Res. 2012 Jan 1;11(1):224-36. doi: 10.1021/pr2008626. Epub 2011 Dec 16.

Abstract

To date, no genome of any of the species from the genus Spiroplasma has been completely sequenced. Long repetitive sequences similar to mobile units present a major obstacle for current genome sequencing technologies. Here, we report the assembly of the Spiroplasma melliferum KC3 genome into 4 contigs, followed by proteogenomic annotation and metabolic reconstruction based on the discovery of 521 expressed proteins and comprehensive metabolomic profiling. A systems approach allowed us to elucidate putative pathogenicity mechanisms and to discover major virulence factors, such as Chitinase utilization enzymes and toxins never before reported for insect pathogenic spiroplasmas.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bacterial Proteins / genetics*
  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism
  • Chromosome Mapping
  • Codon
  • Genome, Bacterial
  • Host-Pathogen Interactions
  • Insecta / microbiology
  • Molecular Sequence Annotation
  • Multigene Family
  • Peptide Mapping
  • Proteome / genetics*
  • Proteome / metabolism
  • Proteomics
  • Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Spiroplasma / genetics*
  • Spiroplasma / metabolism
  • Spiroplasma / physiology
  • Virulence Factors / genetics*
  • Virulence Factors / metabolism

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Codon
  • Proteome
  • Virulence Factors