The Wellcome Trust, via its Beowulf Genomics initiative, has committed more than 3 million to help scientists learn more about some of the causes of sleeping sickness, gastrointestinal infection and toxoplasmosis. Researchers at the Sanger Centre, near Cambridge, will carry out sequencing work on the genomes of Trypanosoma brucei , Bacteroides fragilis , Yersinia enterocolitica , and Toxoplasma gondii . In collaboration with the University of Cambridge and the T. brucei genome network, scientists will determine the sequence of chromosomes IX, X and XI and contribute to the continuing process of gene discovery.
Bacteroides fragilis is a bacterium normally found in the gut.
Highly opportunistic, it is a major cause of infection often limiting the success of gastrointestinal surgery. It is becomingly increasingly resistant to antibiotics. The new research to be carried out with Queen's University, Belfast will sequence the complete genome of strain NCTC 9343 and produce partial sequence of the strain 638R for comparative purposes. Laboratories worldwide are already engaged in research on this organism and the availability of genome sequence data will facilitate and accelerate these investigations. Yersinia enterocolitica , a major cause of food poisoning is commonly associated with the consumption of pork.