Department of Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, Building A6, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic.
Infect Genet Evol. 2012 Mar;12(2):191-202. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2011.12.001. Epub 2011 Dec 15.
Pathogenic uncultivable treponemes, similar to syphilis-causing Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum, include T. pallidum ssp. pertenue, T. pallidum ssp. endemicum and Treponema carateum, which cause yaws, bejel and pinta, respectively. Genetic analyses of these pathogens revealed striking similarity among these bacteria and also a high degree of similarity to the rabbit pathogen, Treponema paraluiscuniculi, a treponeme not infectious to humans. Genome comparisons between pallidum and non-pallidum treponemes revealed genes with potential involvement in human infectivity, whereas comparisons between pallidum and pertenue treponemes identified genes possibly involved in the high invasivity of syphilis treponemes. Genetic variability within syphilis strains is considered as the basis of syphilis molecular epidemiology with potential to detect more virulent strains, whereas genetic variability within a single strain is related to its ability to elude the immune system of the host. Genome analyses also shed light on treponemal evolution and on chromosomal targets for molecular diagnostics of treponemal infections.
致病的无法培养的密螺旋体与引起梅毒的苍白密螺旋体亚种苍白密螺旋体相似，包括引起雅司病、地方性梅毒和品他病的苍白密螺旋体亚种硬结亚种、苍白密螺旋体亚种地方亚种和苍白密螺旋体亚种卡他密螺旋体。这些病原体的遗传分析表明这些细菌之间存在惊人的相似性，也与兔病原体兔密螺旋体属密螺旋体具有高度相似性，兔密螺旋体属密螺旋体对人类没有传染性。苍白密螺旋体与非苍白密螺旋体密螺旋体之间的基因组比较揭示了可能参与人类感染的基因，而苍白密螺旋体与硬结亚种密螺旋体之间的比较则确定了可能与梅毒密螺旋体高度侵袭性有关的基因。梅毒菌株内的遗传变异性被认为是梅毒分子流行病学的基础，具有检测更毒力菌株的潜力，而单一菌株内的遗传变异性与其逃避宿主免疫系统的能力有关。基因组分析还揭示了密螺旋体的进化以及密螺旋体感染分子诊断的染色体靶标。
