Bordetella

The genus Bordetella comprises Gram-negative beta-proteobacteria including three species which are human pathogens; Bordetella pertussis, Bordetella parapertussis and Bordetella bronchiseptica. B. pertussis, and occasionally B. parapertussis, can cause whooping cough in human infants. B. pertussis only infects humans while B. parapertussis infects both humans and sheep. Phylogenetic analyses have shown that B. parapertussis strains isolated from humans are distinct from those isolated from sheep, and there is little or no transmission between the two reservoirs (sheep and human). B. bronchiseptica colonize the respiratory tracts of a range of mammals, but can also persist in the environment for extended periods. It causes chronic and often asymptomatic respiratory infections in a wide range of animals, but only occasionally in humans. A related species, B. avium causes disease (bordetellosis) in commercially grown turkeys, but is also found in a variety of healthy wild and domesticated birds.

Data downloads

• FTP site

• BLAST server

The Sanger Institute has been funded by the Wellcome Trust to sequence the genomes of Bordetella pertussis strain Tohama I, B. parapertussis strain 12822 and B. bronchiseptica strain RB50 in collaboration with Duncan Maskell and Andrew Preston of the Centre for Veterinary Science, Dept. of Clinical Veterinary medicine, The University of Cambridge. The sequences and analysis are described in: Parkhill et al (2003) Comparative analysis of the genome sequences of Bordetella pertussis, Bordetella parapertussis and Bordetella bronchiseptica. Nature Genetics 35 32-40 (DOI: 10.1038/Ng1227), and have been submitted to EMBL/GenBank with the accession numbers: BX470248 (B. pertussis), BX470249 (B. parapertussis) and BX470250 (B. bronchiseptica).

The three sequenced Bordetella strains have been deposited with the ATCC and NCTC under the following accession numbers: Bordetella parapertussis 12822: ATCC BAA-587, NCTC 13253 Bordetella bronchiseptica RB50: ATCC BAA-588, NCTC 13252 Bordetella pertussis Tohama I: ATCC BAA-589, NCTC 13251

We have have also sequenced three closely related isolates of a B. pertussis bacteriophage that exhibited a novel mechanism of host range variation. The mechanism is described in Liu et al, Science 295, 2091 (2002), and the bacteriophage sequences were published in Liu et al, J Bacteriol 186, 1503-1517 (2004), and are available from Genbank/EMBL as: AY029185, AY526908 and AY526909.

We have also been funded by the USDA to sequence the genome of Bordetella avium strain 197N in collaboration with Louise Temple of the Department of Biology, James Madison University

Bordetella bronchiseptica complex sequencing

The Sanger Institute has completed a project to sequence further strains within the Bordetella bronchiseptica complex to investigate the evolutionary history and host tropism differences within this group of organsims. The strain selection is based on the MLST tree published in Diavatopoulos et al, PLoS Pathog. 1, e45 (2005).

This work is being done in collaboration with Dr. Craig Cummings and Prof. David Relman (Relman Lab, Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology, SUMC, Stanford University), Prof. Eric Harvill (Centre for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Penn State University), Dr. Andrew Preston (Univeristy of Bristol), Dr. Frits Mooi (Laboratory for Infectious Diseases and Perinatal Screening, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, Netherlands) and Dr. Jeff F. Miller (Department of Micribiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, UCLA).

The strains selected for sequencing included :

B. bronchiseptica strain 253 (ST27)

B. pertussis strain 18323 (ST24)

B. parapertussis (ovine) Bpp5 (ST16)

B. bronchiseptica strain MO149 (ST15)

B. bronchiseptica strain D445

B. bronchiseptica Bbr77

B. bronchiseptica strain 1289

This project is funded by the Wellcome Trust.

Published Genome Data

The fully sequenced and annotated reference genomes are available from EMBL/GenBank as follows :-

BX470248 (B. pertussis Tohama I)

BX470249 (B. parapertussis 12822)

BX470250 (B. bronchiseptica RB50).

AM167904 (B. avium strain 197N)

HE965805 (B. pertussis strain 18323 (ST24))

HE983626 (B. bronchiseptica strain 1289)

HE965806 (B. bronchiseptica strain 253 (ST27))

HE983628 (B. bronchiseptica strain Bbr77)

HE983627 (B. bronchiseptica strain D445)

HE965807 (B. bronchiseptica strain MO149 (ST15))

HE965803 (B. parapertussis strain Bpp5 (ST16) chromosome)

HE965804 (B. parapertussis strain Bpp5 (ST16) plasmid)

Shotgun and assembly data from these projects are available from our FTP site.

Related links

• Artemis
• Bacteria
• GeneDB (B. bronchiseptica)
• GeneDB (B. parapertussis)
• WTSI Sequencing

Data Use Statement

This sequencing centre plans on publishing the completed and annotated sequences in a peer-reviewed journal as soon as possible. Permission of the principal investigator should be obtained before publishing analyses of the sequence/open reading frames/genes on a chromosome or genome scale. See our data sharing policy.

Sequencing enquiries

Please address all sequencing enquiries to: pathinfo@sanger.ac.uk