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R. Connor

Bio: R. Connor is an academic researcher from Wellcome Trust. The author has contributed to research in topics: Genome & Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The author has an hindex of 4, co-authored 4 publications receiving 9359 citations.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
11 Jun 1998-Nature
TL;DR: The complete genome sequence of the best-characterized strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, H37Rv, has been determined and analysed in order to improve the understanding of the biology of this slow-growing pathogen and to help the conception of new prophylactic and therapeutic interventions.
Abstract: Countless millions of people have died from tuberculosis, a chronic infectious disease caused by the tubercle bacillus. The complete genome sequence of the best-characterized strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, H37Rv, has been determined and analysed in order to improve our understanding of the biology of this slow-growing pathogen and to help the conception of new prophylactic and therapeutic interventions. The genome comprises 4,411,529 base pairs, contains around 4,000 genes, and has a very high guanine + cytosine content that is reflected in the biased amino-acid content of the proteins. M. tuberculosis differs radically from other bacteria in that a very large portion of its coding capacity is devoted to the production of enzymes involved in lipogenesis and lipolysis, and to two new families of glycine-rich proteins with a repetitive structure that may represent a source of antigenic variation.

7,779 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
22 Feb 2001-Nature
TL;DR: Comparing the 3.27-megabase genome sequence of an armadillo-derived Indian isolate of the leprosy bacillus with that of Mycobacterium tuberculosis provides clear explanations for these properties and reveals an extreme case of reductive evolution.
Abstract: Leprosy, a chronic human neurological disease, results from infection with the obligate intracellular pathogen Mycobacterium leprae, a close relative of the tubercle bacillus. Mycobacterium leprae has the longest doubling time of all known bacteria and has thwarted every effort at culture in the laboratory. Comparing the 3.27-megabase (Mb) genome sequence of an armadillo-derived Indian isolate of the leprosy bacillus with that of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (4.41 Mb) provides clear explanations for these properties and reveals an extreme case of reductive evolution. Less than half of the genome contains functional genes but pseudogenes, with intact counterparts in M. tuberculosis, abound. Genome downsizing and the current mosaic arrangement appear to have resulted from extensive recombination events between dispersed repetitive sequences. Gene deletion and decay have eliminated many important metabolic activities including siderophore production, part of the oxidative and most of the microaerophilic and anaerobic respiratory chains, and numerous catabolic systems and their regulatory circuits.

1,620 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Valerie Wood, R. Gwilliam, Marie-Adèle Rajandream, M. Lyne, Rachel Lyne, A. Stewart, J. Sgouros, N. Peat, Jacqueline Hayles, Stephen Baker, D. Basham, Sharen Bowman, Karen Brooks, Derek J. Brown, Steve D.M. Brown, Tracey Chillingworth, Carol Churcher, Mark O. Collins, R. Connor, Ann Cronin, P. Davis, Theresa Feltwell, Audrey Fraser, S. Gentles, Arlette Goble, N. Hamlin, David Harris, J. Hidalgo, Geoffrey M. Hodgson, S. Holroyd, T. Hornsby, S. Howarth, Elizabeth J. Huckle, Sarah E. Hunt, Kay Jagels, Kylie R. James, L. Jones, Matthew Jones, S. Leather, S. McDonald, J. McLean, P. Mooney, Sharon Moule, Karen Mungall, Lee Murphy, D. Niblett, C. Odell, K. Oliver, Susan O'Neil, D. Pearson, Michael A. Quail, Ester Rabbinowitsch, Kim Rutherford, Simon Rutter, David L. Saunders, Kathy Seeger, Sarah Sharp, Jason Skelton, Mark Simmonds, R. Squares, S. Squares, K. Stevens, K. Taylor, Ruth Taylor, Adrian Tivey, S. Walsh, T. Warren, S. Whitehead, John Woodward, Guido Volckaert, Rita Aert, Johan Robben, B. Grymonprez, I. Weltjens, E. Vanstreels, Michael A. Rieger, M. Schafer, S. Muller-Auer, C. Gabel, M. Fuchs, A. Düsterhöft, C. Fritzc, E. Holzer, D. Moestl, H. Hilbert, K. Borzym, I. Langer, Alfred Beck, Hans Lehrach, Richard Reinhardt, Thomas M. Pohl, P. Eger, Wolfgang Zimmermann, H. Wedler, R. Wambutt, Bénédicte Purnelle, André Goffeau, Edouard Cadieu, Stéphane Dréano, Stéphanie Gloux, Valerie Lelaure, Stéphanie Mottier, Francis Galibert, Stephen J. Aves, Z. Xiang, Cherryl Hunt, Karen Moore, S. M. Hurst, M. Lucas, M. Rochet, Claude Gaillardin, Victor A. Tallada, Andrés Garzón, G. Thode, Rafael R. Daga, L. Cruzado, Juan Jimenez, Miguel del Nogal Sánchez, F. del Rey, J. Benito, Angel Domínguez, José L. Revuelta, Sergio Moreno, John Armstrong, Susan L. Forsburg, L. Cerutti, Todd M. Lowe, W. R. McCombie, Ian T. Paulsen, Judith A. Potashkin, G. V. Shpakovski, David W. Ussery, Bart Barrell, Paul Nurse 
02 Jan 2003-Nature
TL;DR: This corrects the article to show that the Higgs boson bacterium is a prokaryotic substance, not a “spatially aggregating substance”, which is a type of “plasm” found in the fossil record.
Abstract: Nature 415, 871–880 (2002). In this Article, the author Andreas Dusterhoft was mistakenly omitted: his name and affiliation (footnote 6) should have been inserted between M. Fuchs and C. Fritzc in the author list. In addition, the name of L. Cerutti (in the last line of the author list) was misspelled.

6 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A new greedy alignment algorithm is introduced with particularly good performance and it is shown that it computes the same alignment as does a certain dynamic programming algorithm, while executing over 10 times faster on appropriate data.
Abstract: For aligning DNA sequences that differ only by sequencing errors, or by equivalent errors from other sources, a greedy algorithm can be much faster than traditional dynamic programming approaches and yet produce an alignment that is guaranteed to be theoretically optimal. We introduce a new greedy alignment algorithm with particularly good performance and show that it computes the same alignment as does a certain dynamic programming algorithm, while executing over 10 times faster on appropriate data. An implementation of this algorithm is currently used in a program that assembles the UniGene database at the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

4,628 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
31 Aug 2000-Nature
TL;DR: It is proposed that the size and complexity of the P. aeruginosa genome reflect an evolutionary adaptation permitting it to thrive in diverse environments and resist the effects of a variety of antimicrobial substances.
Abstract: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a ubiquitous environmental bacterium that is one of the top three causes of opportunistic human infections. A major factor in its prominence as a pathogen is its intrinsic resistance to antibiotics and disinfectants. Here we report the complete sequence of P. aeruginosa strain PAO1. At 6.3 million base pairs, this is the largest bacterial genome sequenced, and the sequence provides insights into the basis of the versatility and intrinsic drug resistance of P. aeruginosa. Consistent with its larger genome size and environmental adaptability, P. aeruginosa contains the highest proportion of regulatory genes observed for a bacterial genome and a large number of genes involved in the catabolism, transport and efflux of organic compounds as well as four potential chemotaxis systems. We propose that the size and complexity of the P. aeruginosa genome reflect an evolutionary adaptation permitting it to thrive in diverse environments and resist the effects of a variety of antimicrobial substances.

4,220 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
09 May 2002-Nature
TL;DR: The 8,667,507 base pair linear chromosome of Streptomyces coelicolor is reported, containing the largest number of genes so far discovered in a bacterium.
Abstract: Streptomyces coelicolor is a representative of the group of soil-dwelling, filamentous bacteria responsible for producing most natural antibiotics used in human and veterinary medicine. Here we report the 8,667,507 base pair linear chromosome of this organism, containing the largest number of genes so far discovered in a bacterium. The 7,825 predicted genes include more than 20 clusters coding for known or predicted secondary metabolites. The genome contains an unprecedented proportion of regulatory genes, predominantly those likely to be involved in responses to external stimuli and stresses, and many duplicated gene sets that may represent 'tissue-specific' isoforms operating in different phases of colonial development, a unique situation for a bacterium. An ancient synteny was revealed between the central 'core' of the chromosome and the whole chromosome of pathogens Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Corynebacterium diphtheriae. The genome sequence will greatly increase our understanding of microbial life in the soil as well as aiding the generation of new drug candidates by genetic engineering.

3,077 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The use of transposon site hybridization (TraSH) is described to comprehensively identify the genes required by the causative agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, for optimal growth, suggesting that the minimal gene set required for survival varies greatly between organisms with different evolutionary histories.
Abstract: Despite over a century of research, tuberculosis remains a leading cause of infectious death worldwide. Faced with increasing rates of drug resistance, the identification of genes that are required for the growth of this organism should provide new targets for the design of antimycobacterial agents. Here, we describe the use of transposon site hybridization (TraSH) to comprehensively identify the genes required by the causative agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, for optimal growth. These genes include those that can be assigned to essential pathways as well as many of unknown function. The genes important for the growth of M. tuberculosis are largely conserved in the degenerate genome of the leprosy bacillus, Mycobacterium leprae, indicating that non-essential functions have been selectively lost since this bacterium diverged from other mycobacteria. In contrast, a surprisingly high proportion of these genes lack identifiable orthologues in other bacteria, suggesting that the minimal gene set required for survival varies greatly between organisms with different evolutionary histories.

2,362 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An automatic method for recognizing natively disordered regions from amino acid sequence is described and benchmarked against predictors that were assessed at the latest critical assessment of techniques for protein structure prediction (CASP) experiment and represents a statistically significant improvement on the methods evaluated on the same targets at CASP.

1,946 citations