@article{e25a3d9926914082b218bcf607b1c740,
title = "The Cryptococcus neoformans genome sequencing project",
abstract = "Cryptococcus neoformans is a basidiomycete that can cause life-threatening meningoencephalitis in patients with and without impaired immune function. Cryptococcosis is usually an opportunistic infection in patients with compromised immunity as a consequence of HIV-1 infection, steroid administration, cancer chemotherapy, sarcoidosis, diabetes, or inherited immune system defects. This pathogenic yeast has a defined sexual cycle, which allows classical genetic analysis. Molecular biology approaches, including transformation and gene disruption by homologous recombination, and animal models for studies of virulence are both well developed. Recently an international consortium convened to begin the C. neoformans genome sequencing project, and we review here background and arguments for this project. We also discuss the importance of this project to the biology and virulence of this organism in particular, and to virulence in general.",
keywords = "Basidiomycete, Fungal pathogen, Genomic sequence, Meningitis, Mycology",
author = "Joseph Heitman and Arturo Casadevall and Lodge, {Jennifer K.} and Perfect, {John R.}",
note = "Funding Information: As a result of a meeting held in St. Louis, MO in February 1999 organized by Jennifer Lodge, Kent Buchanan, and Brian Wickes and supported by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the C. neoformans genome sequencing project was launched. A group of scientists was chosen to serve as the advisory board for the genome project, including Jennifer Lodge, Juneann Murphy, June Kwon-Chung, Fred Dietrich, and John Perfect. At the genome sequencing meeting, the strain that was chosen to be sequenced initially is the serotype D MATα strain JEC21, which is part of a congenic mating pair that is well-characterized [21, 22]. JEC21 was selected by the consensus of the meeting participants. The decision to select strain JEC21 for sequencing was based on the facts that this strain: i) is virulent; ii) has been demonstrated to be suitable for recombinant DNA studies; and iii) mates efficiently and is amenable to analysis by classical yeast genetic techniques. Although serotype D strains are less common than serotype A strains and have significantly diverged, serotype D strains are quite common in some european countries. Thus far, a group at the Stanford University genome center headed by Richard Hyman and Ron Davis has been funded by the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to conduct ∼5X random shotgun sequencing of genomic DNA of strain JEC21. As of 8/4/2000, ∼49 megabases (2X) of genomic sequence had been determined, which is publicly accessible at the Stanford genome center website (http://www-sequence.stanford.edu/group/C.neoformans/ index.html). Funding Information: Our studies are supported by grants from the NIAID including, AI39115, AI41937, AI42159, AI28388, AI94014, AI13342, AI33774, HL–9842, T32-GM-07228, AI41962, AI01577 and program project grant P01 AI44975 to the Duke University Mycology Research Unit. Arturo Casadevall is the recipient of a Burroughs Wellcome Developmental Therapeutics Award, Jennifer Lodge is a Burroughs Wellcome New Investigator in Molecular Pathogenic Mycology, and Joseph Heitman is a Burroughs Wellcome Scholar in Molecular Pathogenic Mycology and an associate investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The authors would also like to thank the Burroughs Wellcome fund for their generous support for the field of molecular mycology.",
year = "1999",
doi = "10.1023/A:1007136602930",
language = "English",
volume = "148",
pages = "1--7",
journal = "Mycopathologia",
issn = "0301-486X",
number = "1",
}