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Leptospirosis is a widespread zoonosis that has emerged as a major public health problem in developing countries in South-East Asia and South America. The “Biology of Spirochetes” Unit carries out fundamental research on leptospires and applied science work in collaboration with the National Reference Center (NRC) for Leptospira r.
Our current limited understanding of the biology of spirochetes results mostly from a lack of genetic tools. Over the last five years, we have developed techniques for the genetic manipulation of Leptospira. We have also completed a program of genome sequencing for a saprophytic Leptospira strain which is our model bacterium. These advances provide us with an opportunity to apply state-of-the-art approaches to the identification of gene functions in leptospires. This work should help us to unravel the biology of spirochetes and their virulence determinants. Many studies have also demonstrated that spirochetes share several unique features. Thus, genomic analysis of spirochetes has shown that most of the genes of this phylum encode putative proteins displaying no similarity to proteins of known function in any other organisms. More fundamental studies on this group of microorganisms should lead to the discovery of new genes and new protein functions. Further progress toward understanding the biology of Leptospira promises to improve the treatment and prevention of this neglected emerging disease.
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