Nora Zidane

TL;DR: The genome reflects the history and lifestyle of L. pneumophila, a human pathogen of macrophages that coevolved with fresh-water amoebae, and encode eukaryotic-like proteins or motifs that are predicted to modulate host cell functions to the pathogen's advantage.

TL;DR: The transcriptional response of primary monocytes from Africans and Europeans to bacterial and viral stimuli is characterized and regulatory variants are enriched in population-specific signals of natural selection and admixture with Neandertals introduced regulatory variants into European genomes, affecting preferentially responses to viral challenges.

TL;DR: Sixteen interrelated SNP subtypes were defined by genotyping both extant and extinct strains of M. leprae from around the world and showed a strong geographical association that reflects the migration patterns of early humans and trade routes, with the Silk Road linking Europe to China having contributed to the spread of leprosy.

TL;DR: It is suggested that once incorporated into the L. biflexa genome, laterally transferred DNA undergoes minimal rearrangement due to physical restrictions imposed by high gene density and limited presence of transposable elements, in contrast to the genomes of pathogenic Leptospira species undergo frequent rearrangements.

TL;DR: Sequencing and analysis of four L. longbeachae genomes revealed species-specific differences that may account for the different environmental niches and disease epidemiology of these two Legionella species, including a less pronounced biphasic life cycle as compared to L. pneumophila.