Research Project: Complete Genome Analysis of Naegleria fowleri and Naegleria lovaniensis

Background

Naegleria is a free-living amoeboflagellate found in freshwater feeding on bacteria. One species, N. fowleri, causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) in man, a rare but rapidly fatal central nervous system disease occurring after exposure to contaminated water.

The pathogenic N. fowleri is frequently encountered in thermal waters together with its closest relative, the nonpathogenic N. lovaniensis.

Sequences of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS) and the 5.8S ribosomal gene allows to distinguish eight types of N. fowleri, which have an uneven distribution in the world.

Objectives :

By comparing the genome of N. lovaniensis and that of N. fowleri, identify the genes responsible for the pathogenicity and confirm its probable descent from N. lovaniensis.

By comparing the genome of the three most common N. fowleri types (2, 3 and 5) found in PAM cases, confirm the pathogenicity genes and identify suitable markers for phylogenetic analyses of N. fowleri strains.

Methods :

The complete genome sequence of three strains of N. fowleri belonging to 3 different types and one strain of N. lovaniensis will be determined using an illumina technology, before the arrival of the bioinformatician.

The bioinformatician will reconstitute the complete genome of the 4 strains.

To assemble the sequences he/she will be able to rely on the complete genome sequence of Naegleria gruberi (41 Mb) available at GenBank. He/she will work at the Pasteur Institute of Guadeloupe in a scientific environment of young scientists investigating the molecular epidemiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. He/she will have access to the computers of the Pasteur Institute in Paris through internet.

Terms:

The project will last for two years. The salary will depend on the finances from a grant for a post doctoral fellowship from the Guadeloupe region. This outcome of the grant will be known around September 2013. If the grant is accepted, the postdoctoral fellowship could begin at the end of 2013. The gross salary will be around 32,000 euros.

For further information and for applications contact: