Skip to main content
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 2010 Apr 30;192(13):3547–3548. doi: 10.1128/JB.00399-10

Genome Sequence of Lactobacillus crispatus ST1

Teija Ojala 1, Veera Kuparinen 2, J Patrik Koskinen 1, Edward Alatalo 3, Liisa Holm 1,3, Petri Auvinen 3, Sanna Edelman 4, Benita Westerlund-Wikström 2, Timo K Korhonen 2, Lars Paulin 3,*, Matti Kankainen 3,5,*
PMCID: PMC2897677  PMID: 20435723

Abstract

Lactobacillus crispatus is a common member of the beneficial microbiota present in the vertebrate gastrointestinal and human genitourinary tracts. Here, we report the genome sequence of L. crispatus ST1, a chicken isolate displaying strong adherence to vaginal epithelial cells.


Lactobacillus crispatus can persist in the vertebrate gastrointestinal tract and is among the most prevalent species of the Lactobacillus-dominated human vaginal microbiota (2, 9, 13, 14). It belongs to the so-called acidophilus group (3), which has attracted interest because some of its species are important factors in the production of fermented foods (12) and some can, at least transiently, colonize the human host (2, 9, 13, 14). Moreover, some specific strains, mainly L. acidophilus NCFM and L. johnsonii NCC 533, have received prominence as intestinal-health-promoting microbes (4). Although the genomes of seven members of the acidophilus complex have been sequenced to date (12), the genome sequences of L. crispatus and other predominant lactobacillar species in the urogenital flora have mostly remained obscure. Vaginal lactobacilli can have an important role in controlling the health of the host (2, 14). They can, for example, positively influence and stabilize the host's vaginal microbiota via the production of compounds that are acidic or exert a direct inhibiting action toward pathogenic bacteria (2, 14). In addition to the antimicrobial compounds, the competitive exclusion of pathogens is another mechanism by which the host's microbiota can be balanced (2). L. crispatus ST1 was originally isolated from the crop of a chicken, and PCR profiling of L. crispatus isolates has verified it to be an abundant colonizer of the chicken crop (6, 8). It also displays a strong protein-dependent adhesion to the epithelial cells of the human vagina and has been shown to inhibit the adhesion of avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (6, 7).

The genome was sequenced (18× coverage) using a 454 pyrosequencer with GS FLX chemistry (Roche). The contig order was confirmed and gaps were filled by sequencing PCR fragments from the genomic DNA template using ABI 3730 and Big Dye chemistry (Applied Biosystems). Genomic data were processed using the Staden Package (11) and gsAssembler (Roche). Coding sequences (CDSs) were predicted using Glimmer3 (5) followed by manual curation of the start sites. The remaining intergenic regions were reanalyzed for missed CDSs by using BlastX (1). Annotation transfer was performed based on a BlastP search, followed by Blannotator analysis using default settings (http://ekhidna.biocenter.helsinki.fi/poxo/blannotator) and manual verification. Orthologous groups between the different lactobacillar proteomes were identified using OrthoMCL (10).

The genome of L. crispatus ST1 consists of a single circular chromosome 2.04 Mbp in size, with an overall G+C content of 37%, without any plasmids. There are 64 tRNA genes, 4 rRNA operons, and 2 CRISPR loci. Out of the 2,024 predicted CDSs, a putative function was assigned to 77%, whereas 10% of the CDSs were annotated as conserved and 13% as novel. Based on the orthologous grouping, 302 (15%) of the CDSs encoded by ST1 have no detectable homologs in any of the Lactobacillus proteomes published to date.

Nucleotide sequence accession number.

The genome sequence of L. crispatus ST1 was deposited in EMBL under accession number FN692037.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Academy of Finland (general research projects 114498, 109849, 116507, and 123900 and ERA-NET PathoGenoMics project 118982) and the European Union Network of Excellence EuroPathoGenomics.

Footnotes

Published ahead of print on 30 April 2010.

REFERENCES

  • 1.Altschul, S. F., T. L. Madden, A. A. Schäffer, J. Zhang, Z. Zhang, W. Miller, and D. J. Lipman. 1997. Gapped BLAST and PSI-BLAST: a new generation of protein database search programs. Nucleic Acids Res. 25:3389-3402. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 2.Boris, S., and C. Barbés. 2000. Role played by lactobacilli in controlling the population of vaginal pathogens. Microb. Infect. 2:543-546. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 3.Canchaya, C., M. J. Claesson, G. F. Fitzgerald, D. van Sinderen, and P. W. O'Toole. 2006. Diversity of the genus Lactobacillus revealed by comparative genomics of five species. Microbiology 152:3185-3196. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 4.Claesson, M. J., D. van Sinderen, and P. W. O'Toole. 2007. The genus Lactobacillus—a genomic basis for understanding its diversity. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 269:22-28. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 5.Delcher, A. L., K. A. Bratke, E. C. Powers, and S. L. Salzberg. 2007. Identifying bacterial genes and endosymbiont DNA with Glimmer. Bioinformatics 23:673-679. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 6.Edelman, S. 2005. Mucosa-adherent lactobacilli: commensal and pathogenic characteristics. Ph.D. thesis. University of Helsinki. https://oa.doria.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/560/mucosaad.pdf?sequence=1.
  • 7.Edelman, S., S. Leskelä, E. Ron, J. Apajalahti, and T. K. Korhonen. 2003. In vitro adhesion of an avian pathogenic Escherichia coli O78 strain to surfaces of the chicken intestinal tract and to ileal mucus. Vet. Microbiol. 91:41-56. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 8.Edelman, S., B. Westerlund-Wikström, S. Leskelä, H. Kettunen, N. Rautonen, J. Apajalahti, and T. K. Korhonen. 2002. In vitro adhesion specificity of indigenous lactobacilli within the avian intestinal tract. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 68:5155-5159. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 9.El Aila, N., I. Tency, G. Claeys, H. Verstraelen, B. Saerens, G. L. dos Santos Santiago, E. De Backer, P. Cools, M. Temmerman, R. Verhelst, and M. Vaneechoutte. 2009. Identification and genotyping of bacteria from paired vaginal and rectal samples from pregnant women indicates similarity between vaginal and rectal microflora. BMC Infect. Dis. 9:167. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 10.Li, L., C. J. Stoeckert, Jr., and D. S. Roos. 2003. OrthoMCL: identification of ortholog groups for eukaryotic genomes. Genome Res. 13:2178-2189. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 11.Staden, R., K. F. Beal, and J. K. Bonfield. 2000. The Staden package, 1998. Methods Mol. Biol. 132:115-130. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 12.Ventura, M., S. O'Flaherty, M. J. Claesson, F. Turroni, T. R. Klaenhammer, D. van Sinderen, and P. W. O'Toole. 2009. Genome-scale analyses of health-promoting bacteria: probiogenomics. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 7:61-71. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 13.Walter, J. 2008. Ecological role of lactobacilli in the gastrointestinal tract: implications for fundamental and biomedical research. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74:4985-4996. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 14.Witkin, S. S., I. M. Linhares, and P. Giraldo. 2007. Bacterial flora of the female genital tract: function and immune regulation. Best Pract. Res. Clin. Obstet. Gynaecol. 21:347-354. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Bacteriology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES