GBS Researchers Help Unlock Secrets of Germs
October 3, 2005
Drs. Craig Rubens, division chief, Infectious Disease, and Amanda Jones, research assistant professor, Infectious Disease, contributed to a national studythat has broad-reaching implications for understanding the diversity of bacteria and developing new vaccines to combat infection-causing pathogens.
The study, published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in September, examined the genetic material or ‘genome’ of the bacteria Streptococcus agalactiae - also known as group B streptococcus (GBS) - a germ that causes infections in pregnant women and their newborns. Infants up to two months old can be severely affected by GBS, which can cause blood stream infections, respiratory problems, pneumonia, shock and meningitis.
In the study, Drs. Rubens, Jones and others hypothesized that bacteria genomes were similar to human genomes. That is, the genes of one strain of Streptococcus agalactiae were thought to be almost identical to another with only small variances.
“Unlike our initial hypothesis, we learned that strains of GBS bacteria are constantly evolving with as much as 30 percent of the gene content reshaping itself from one strain to the next,” explains Dr. Rubens. “This research opened our eyes to the frequency at which bacteria change, adapt and evolve.”
Drs. Rubens and Jones will be involved in future studies that explore why strains of GBS bacteria change at such a rapid rate. Current theories include exposure to chemicals, environmental factors or proximity to other bacteria.
“In order to develop new therapies and prevention strategies that successfully guard against all types and variances of a pathogen’s genes, we will need to devote much more research time studying the DNA content of individual strains of bacteria,” comments Dr. Jones.