ARKANSAS RESEARCHERS LOOK AT 'GENETIC NEIGHBORHOODS' TO FIND PATHOGENIC BACTERIA

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark., Aug. 12 -- The University of Arkansas issued the following news release:

When it comes to identifying harmful bacteria, it helps to look at the company their genes keep.

Researchers with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the U of A Division of Agriculture,used a machine-learning approachto study not just which genes a bacterium has, but also where those genes sit next to each other. That "genetic neighborhood" helped researchers distinguish disease-causing strains ofEnterococcus cecorum, a poultry pathogen, fromnonpathogenic strains.

While many strains ofE. cecorumare harmless, others can cause arthritis, bone infections and lameness in poultry, which creates animal welfare concerns and...