Project description:Treponema pallidum strain DAL-1 is a human uncultivable pathogen causing the sexually transmitted disease syphilis. Strain DAL-1 was isolated from the amniotic fluid of a pregnant woman in the secondary stage of syphilis. Here we describe the 1,139,971 bp long genome of T. pallidum strain DAL-1 which was sequenced using two independent sequencing methods (454 pyrosequencing and Illumina). In rabbits, strain DAL-1 replicated better than the T. pallidum strain Nichols. The comparison of the complete DAL-1 genome sequence with the Nichols sequence revealed a list of genetic differences that are potentially responsible for the increased rabbit virulence of the DAL-1 strain.
Project description:Using the rabbit model of syphilis, the Sea81-4 strain of Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum has been found to be more likely than other strains to invade the central nervous system (CNS). To identify possible explanations for this important phenotype at the genomic level, we sequenced the Sea81-4 strain genome.