| Summary: | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Streptococcus gallolyticus </it>subsp. <it>gallolyticus </it>is an important causative agent of infectious endocarditis, while the pathogenicity of this species is widely unclear. To gain insight into the pathomechanisms and the underlying genetic elements for lateral gene transfer, we sequenced the entire genome of this pathogen.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We sequenced the whole genome of <it>S. gallolyticus </it>subsp. <it>gallolyticus </it>strain ATCC BAA-2069, consisting of a 2,356,444 bp circular DNA molecule with a G+C-content of 37.65% and a novel 20,765 bp plasmid designated as pSGG1. Bioinformatic analysis predicted 2,309 ORFs and the presence of 80 tRNAs and 21 rRNAs in the chromosome. Furthermore, 21 ORFs were detected on the plasmid pSGG1, including tetracycline resistance genes <it>telL </it>and <it>tet(O/W/32/O)</it>. Screening of 41 <it>S. gallolyticus </it>subsp. <it>gallolyticus </it>isolates revealed one plasmid (pSGG2) homologous to pSGG1. We further predicted 21 surface proteins containing the cell wall-sorting motif LPxTG, which were shown to play a functional role in the adhesion of bacteria to host cells. In addition, we performed a whole genome comparison to the recently sequenced <it>S. gallolyticus </it>subsp. <it>gallolyticus </it>strain UCN34, revealing significant differences.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The analysis of the whole genome sequence of <it>S. gallolyticus </it>subsp. <it>gallolyticus </it>promotes understanding of genetic factors concerning the pathogenesis and adhesion to ECM of this pathogen. For the first time we detected the presence of the mobilizable pSGG1 plasmid, which may play a functional role in lateral gene transfer and promote a selective advantage due to a tetracycline resistance.</p>
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