DNA of Epidemic Meningitis mapped, could speed vaccine development

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DNA of Epidemic Meningitis Mapped

Findings could speed development of vaccine

By Nicolle Charbonneau

HealthSCOUT Reporter

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WEDNESDAY, March 29 (HealthSCOUT) -- For the first time, researchers have

deciphered the genetic blueprint for a bacterium that causes epidemics of a

disease in the developing world.

In the March 30 issue of Nature, researchers from Great Britain and Germany

describe the complete DNA sequence for Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A,

which causes periodic epidemics of meningitis in sub-Saharan Africa.

The study authors hope that other researchers, armed with the new genetic

map, can soon develop a vaccine against this strain of meningitis.

n Parkhill is the principal investigator of a group at The Sanger Centre

in Cambridge, U.K., that's been studying the genome for two-and-a-half years.

" It's like cataloguing a library, " he says. Until now, researchers interested

in a particular part of the organism had to find it for themselves, which can

be time-consuming. " They also had to work out what it says, which can also be

time-consuming. "

" What we've done, in essence, is to take the entire library, the entire

blueprint, and catalogue it and make it all available, so anyone who's

interested in this organism can go straight to what they're interested in and

extract that piece of information. "

A microbial chameleon

Ian Feavers, who wrote an accompanying commentary, calls the study a

" milestone " in meningococcal research. " The genome sequence lays out the

genetic blueprint for the meningococcal organism, " says Feavers, principal

bacteriologist at the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control

near London. " For the first time, researchers have access to the 'technical

drawings' for the organism, which has the potential to help with the

development of a vaccine. "

Scientists have known for some time that meningitis evolved with humans and

became adept at evading our immune response. " One of the features that's

appeared to come out of the genome sequence is the high degree of

adaptability in the genetic makeup of the organism, " says Feavers. The

bacterium seems capable of losing, acquiring and rearranging genes, he says.

" This is perhaps the most striking finding of the paper. "

Less than three weeks ago, another group of researchers published the genome

for meningitis serogroup B in the journal Science. Parkhill says, for the

moment, the studies provide fundamental information from which clinical

applications can be derived.

But in the long term, the data could lead to new vaccine and drug targets.

" It has turned up novel and exciting things to do with the biology of the

organism itself, which will inform the way people work with it in the

future, " says Parkhill. " All the clinical research on this organism in the

future will depend on what we've done, " as well as the work published on

serogroup B and any future publication of serogroup C's sequence.

Feavers says while it may not lead to a vaccine in the short term, the study

is a fundamental work of science that will help researchers all over the

world.

What To Do

This HealthSCOUT story describes how the scientists mapped the serogroup B

meningitis. Another study suggests that meningitis is more common among

college students at the start of the semester.

For more information on meningitis, including how to recognize the illness,

check the Meningitis Foundation of America or Britain's National Meningitis

Trust.

You can also check the Human Genome Project for an update on the ongoing,

international program to map the entire human DNA sequence.

SOURCES: Interviews with n Parkhill, Ph.D., project manager, The Sanger

Centre, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge, U.K., and Ian Feavers,

Ph.D., principal scientist, division of bacteriology, National Institute for

Biological Standards and Control, Potters Bar, U.K.; March 30, 2000 Nature