Project description:Yersinia pestis (Y. pestis) is the etiologic agent of the plague, an endemic zoonotic disease of critical clinical and historic importance. The species belongs to a genus comprising eleven members, three of which are human pathogens. Y. pestis and its closest extant relative, Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, are very similar in many respects, yet there is a distinct dichotomy between these species in terms of pathogenicity. Y. pseudotuberculosis produces a relatively benign food- or water-borne gastroenteritis with rare cases of potentially fatal bacteremia. In contrast, the characteristics of high infectivity and high mortality have made Y. pestis a pathogen of historic importance with devastating effects on the human populace over the course of three major pandemics. These qualities coupled with the emergence of multi-drug resistant variants make Y. pestis an ideal candidate for use as a bioterrorism agent. Consequentially, evolutionary biology of this organism has become a priority in the counter-terrorism research effort. The flow of genetic information within the Y. pseudotuberculosis/Y. pestis group motivated us to identify novel genes for the purpose of creating a pan-genome species DNA microarray to better understand the phylogenomic relationships among its members. Based on the sequence information be generated from the novel gene discovery project conducted at the PFGRC as well as other publicly available sources regarding Yersinia spp. genome sequences, we designed a species microarray which represents the hitherto known genetic repertoire of this taxonomic group. In order to create a species microarray that represents novel genes or genes with significant sequence variation, the ArrayOligoSelector software (http://arrayoligosel.sourceforge.net/) was used to design a 70-mer oligonucleotide for each of the annotated ORFs or partial ORFs. A detailed description of the 70-mer oligo design process and filters developed by the PFGRC can be found on the PFGRC web site at (http://pfgrc.tigr.org/presentations/seminars/oligo_design_final.pdf).
