Comparison of Francisella tularensis genomes reveals evolutionary events associated with the emergence of human pathogenic strains.

BACKGROUND: Francisella tularensis subspecies tularensis and holarctica are pathogenic to humans, whereas the two other subspecies, novicida and mediasiatica, rarely cause disease. To uncover the factors that allow subspecies tularensis and holarctica to be pathogenic to humans, we compared their genome sequences with the genome sequence of Francisella tularensis subspecies novicida U112, which is nonpathogenic to humans. RESULTS: Comparison of the genomes of human pathogenic Francisella strains with the genome of U112 identifies genes specific to the human pathogenic strains and reveals pseudogenes that previously were unidentified. In addition, this analysis provides a coarse chronology of the evolutionary events that took place during the emergence of the human pathogenic strains. Genomic rearrangements at the level of insertion sequences (IS elements), point mutations, and small indels took place in the human pathogenic strains during and after differentiation from the nonpathogenic strain, resulting in gene inactivation. CONCLUSION: The chronology of events suggests a substantial role for genetic drift in the formation of pseudogenes in Francisella genomes. Mutations that occurred early in the evolution, however, might have been fixed in the population either because of evolutionary bottlenecks or because they were pathoadaptive (beneficial in the context of infection). Because the structure of Francisella genomes is similar to that of the genomes of other emerging or highly pathogenic bacteria, this evolutionary scenario may be shared by pathogens from other species.

Phenotypic improvement of dystrophic muscles by rAAV/microdystrophin vectors is augmented by Igf1 codelivery.

The absence of dystrophin in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) leads to sarcolemmal instability and enhances the susceptibility of muscle fibers to contraction-induced injury. Various viral vectors have been used to deliver mini- and microdystrophin expression cassettes to muscles of dystrophin-deficient mdx mice, significantly increasing both the morphological and the functional properties of the muscles. However, dystrophin delivery to adult mdx mice has not yielded a complete rescue of the dystrophic phenotype. Here we investigated a novel strategy involving dual gene transfer of recombinant adeno-associated viral vectors expressing either microdystrophin (rAAV-muDys) or a muscle-specific isoform of Igf-1 (rAAV-mIgf-1). Injection of mdx muscles with rAAV-muDys reduced myofiber degeneration and turnover and increased their resistance to mechanical injury, but did not increase muscle mass or force generation. Injection of mdx muscles with rAAV-mIgf-1 led to increased muscle mass, but did not provide protection against mechanical injury or halt myofiber degeneration, leading to loss of the vector over time. In contrast, co-injection of the rAAV-muDys and rAAV-mIgf-1 vectors resulted in increased muscle mass and strength, reduced myofiber degeneration, and increased protection against contraction-induced injury. These results suggest that a dual-gene, combinatorial strategy could enhance the efficacy of gene therapy of DMD.