Department of Microbiology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA. Varalakshmi.Vissa@colostate.edu
Comparison of the recently sequenced genome of the leprosy-causing pathogen Mycobacterium leprae with other mycobacterial genomes reveals a drastic gene reduction and decay in M. leprae affecting many metabolic areas, exemplified by the retention of a minimal set of genes required for cell-wall biosynthesis.