Researchers Sequence Largest Bacterial Genome to Date

Researchers in Washington state have sequenced the genome of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common microorganism that is often lethal in burn victims and people with cystic fibrosis. A team from the Washington Genome Center and PathoGenesis Corp. reports in today’s Nature that it has identified each of the 6.3 million chemicals, called bases, that make up the organism’s estimated 5,570 genes. But the researchers have yet to determine the function of about 35% of those genes.

P. aeruginosa is essentially harmless in healthy people, but poses a serious problem in those whose immune systems are damaged because it quickly builds up resistance to antibiotics. Experts hope having the sequence will make it possible to develop new ways of killing the microorganism. It is the largest bacterial genome to be sequenced to date.

--Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II