Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 104, Issue 3, Pages 1009-1014Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0606713104
Keywords
essential genes; promoter; tularemia; U112
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Funding
- NIAID NIH HHS [5U54 AI 057141-04, U54 AI057141] Funding Source: Medline
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Francisella tularensis, the causative agent of tularemia, is one of the most infectious bacterial pathogens known and is a category A select agent. We created a sequence-defined, near-saturation transposon mutant library of F. tularensis novicida, a subspecies that causes a tularemia-like disease in rodents. The library consists of 16,508 unique insertions, an average of > 9 insertions per gene, which is a coverage nearly twice that of the greatest previously achieved for any bacterial species. Insertions were recovered in 84% (1,490) of the predicted genes. To achieve high coverage, it was necessary to construct transposons carrying an endogenous Francisella promoter to drive expression of antibiotic resistance. An analysis of genes lacking (or with few) insertions identified nearly 400 candidate essential genes, most of which are likely to be required for growth on rich medium and which represent potential therapeutic targets. To facilitate genome-scale screening using the mutant collection, we assembled a sublibrary made up of two purified mutants per gene. The library provides a resource for virtually complete identification of genes involved in virulence and other nonessential processes.
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