{"223421":{"#nid":"223421","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Strains of Cholera from Haiti have Limited Capacity for Horizontal Gene Transfer","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe bacterium \u003Cem\u003EVibrio cholerae\u003C\/em\u003E annually causes millions of cases of the often fatal disease cholera, typically in regions where access to clean drinking water is limited. \u003Cem\u003EV. cholerae\u003C\/em\u003E can be introduced into water by infected individuals who can sometimes be asymptomatic, however this microbe is also a natural inhabitant of aquatic waters. Since the summer following the tragic January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, an on-going cholera epidemic has resulted in more than 600,000 individual cases and 7,500 deaths. The emergence of this cholera epidemic has sparked questions as to whether the origin of the outbreak was imported or indigenous. Previous genome sequencing studies suggested that a strain of \u003Cem\u003EV. cholerae\u003C\/em\u003E was inadvertently introduced into Haiti by United Nations security forces deployed from Nepal, where cholera outbreaks occurred weeks before the troops were deployed to the island. Subsequent studies, however, suggest that the strain may have acquired DNA through \u201chorizontal gene transfer\u201d from other \u003Cem\u003EVibrio \u003C\/em\u003Eorganisms in the local environmental \u2013 a phenomenon that may have contributed to the outbreak.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn a new study published in the journal \u003Cem\u003EmBio\u003C\/em\u003E, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s Cheryl Tarr and Lee Katz\u0026nbsp; (School of Biology Ph.D. recipient) along with Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Biology Professor Brian Hammer, his student Elena Antonova, and other colleagues, analyzed a set of isolates collected in Haiti at various times and locations since 2010. Genome sequencing of these isolates supports a model in which the outbreak was due to a single point-source introduction of \u003Cem\u003EV. cholerae\u003C\/em\u003E to the island. Further analysis revealed that not only have the Haiti isolates not acquired new genes from the environment, but they are also severely impaired for the ability to undergo horizontal gene transfer, which typically allows bacteria to adapt quickly to new environments. On-going studies are underway to identify the mutation that prevents the Haiti strains from taking up environmental DNA.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe study was published on July 2, 2013 in \u003Cem\u003EmBio\u003C\/em\u003E, the online open access journal from the American Society for Microbiology, and can be found at: \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/mbio.asm.org\/content\/4\/4\/e00398-13\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/mbio.asm.org\/content\/4\/4\/e00398-13\u003C\/a\u003E. Funding for Hammer\u2019s work in this study was provided by a grant from the National Science Foundation.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe bacterium \u003Cem\u003EVibrio cholerae\u003C\/em\u003E annually causes millions of cases of the often fatal disease cholera, typically in regions where access to clean drinking water is limited. \u003Cem\u003EV. cholerae\u003C\/em\u003E can be introduced into water by infected individuals who can sometimes be asymptomatic, however this microbe is also a natural inhabitant of aquatic waters.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27245","created_gmt":"2013-07-18 11:51:07","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:14:34","author":"Troy Hilley","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-07-18T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-07-18T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"223411":{"id":"223411","type":"image","title":"Brian Hammer","body":null,"created":"1449243535","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:38:55","changed":"1475894894","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:14","alt":"Brian Hammer","file":{"fid":"197356","name":"img_0235brian_hammer.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/img_0235brian_hammer_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/img_0235brian_hammer_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2839288,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/img_0235brian_hammer_0.jpg?itok=gEydp4Vo"}}},"media_ids":["223411"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/mbioblog.asm.org\/mbiosphere\/2013\/07\/cholera-in-haiti-vibrio-cholerae-genomes-confirm-the-epidemic-originated-from-single-source.html","title":"mBiosphere press release"},{"url":"http:\/\/mbio.asm.org\/content\/4\/4\/e00398-13","title":"\u2022\tEvolutionary Dynamics of Vibrio cholerae O1 following a Single-Source Introduction to Haiti"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.biology.gatech.edu\/people\/brian-hammer","title":"Brian Hammer"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.biology.gatech.edu\/","title":"School of Biology"}],"groups":[{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"12952","name":"Brian Hammer"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}