1
|
Le DQ, Nguyen TA, Nguyen SH, Nguyen TT, Nguyen CH, Phung HT, Ho TH, Vo NS, Nguyen T, Nguyen HA, Cao MD. Efficient inference of large prokaryotic pangenomes with PanTA. Genome Biol 2024; 25:209. [PMID: 39107817 PMCID: PMC11304767 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-024-03362-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2024] [Accepted: 07/30/2024] [Indexed: 08/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Pangenome inference is an indispensable step in bacterial genomics, yet its scalability poses a challenge due to the rapid growth of genomic collections. This paper presents PanTA, a software package designed for constructing pangenomes of large bacterial datasets, showing unprecedented efficiency levels multiple times higher than existing tools. PanTA introduces a novel mechanism to construct the pangenome progressively without rebuilding the accumulated collection from scratch. The progressive mode is shown to consume orders of magnitude less computational resources than existing solutions in managing growing datasets. The software is open source and is publicly available at https://github.com/amromics/panta and at 10.6084/m9.figshare.23724705 .
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Duc Quang Le
- AMROMICS JSC, Nghe An, Vietnam
- Faculty of IT, Hanoi University of Civil Engineering, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Tien Anh Nguyen
- AMROMICS JSC, Nghe An, Vietnam
- Faculty of Biotechnology, Hanoi University of Pharmacy, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | | | - Tam Thi Nguyen
- Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Canh Hao Nguyen
- Bioinformatics Center, Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Huong Thanh Phung
- Faculty of Biotechnology, Hanoi University of Pharmacy, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Tho Huu Ho
- Department of Medical Microbiology, The 103 Military Hospital, Vietnam Military Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam
- Department of Genomics & Cytogenetics, Institute of Biomedicine & Pharmacy, Vietnam Military Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Nam S Vo
- Center for Biomedical Informatics, Vingroup Big Data Institute, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
2
|
Krisna MA, Jolley KA, Monteith W, Boubour A, Hamers RL, Brueggemann AB, Harrison OB, Maiden MCJ. Development and implementation of a core genome multilocus sequence typing scheme for Haemophilus influenzae. Microb Genom 2024; 10:001281. [PMID: 39120932 PMCID: PMC11315579 DOI: 10.1099/mgen.0.001281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2024] [Accepted: 07/18/2024] [Indexed: 08/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Haemophilus influenzae is part of the human nasopharyngeal microbiota and a pathogen causing invasive disease. The extensive genetic diversity observed in H. influenzae necessitates discriminatory analytical approaches to evaluate its population structure. This study developed a core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) scheme for H. influenzae using pangenome analysis tools and validated the cgMLST scheme using datasets consisting of complete reference genomes (N = 14) and high-quality draft H. influenzae genomes (N = 2297). The draft genome dataset was divided into a development dataset (N = 921) and a validation dataset (N = 1376). The development dataset was used to identify potential core genes, and the validation dataset was used to refine the final core gene list to ensure the reliability of the proposed cgMLST scheme. Functional classifications were made for all the resulting core genes. Phylogenetic analyses were performed using both allelic profiles and nucleotide sequence alignments of the core genome to test congruence, as assessed by Spearman's correlation and ordinary least square linear regression tests. Preliminary analyses using the development dataset identified 1067 core genes, which were refined to 1037 with the validation dataset. More than 70% of core genes were predicted to encode proteins essential for metabolism or genetic information processing. Phylogenetic and statistical analyses indicated that the core genome allelic profile accurately represented phylogenetic relatedness among the isolates (R 2 = 0.945). We used this cgMLST scheme to define a high-resolution population structure for H. influenzae, which enhances the genomic analysis of this clinically relevant human pathogen.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Made Ananda Krisna
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Oxford University Clinical Research Unit Indonesia, Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
| | | | - William Monteith
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath, UK
| | - Alexandra Boubour
- Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Raph L. Hamers
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Oxford University Clinical Research Unit Indonesia, Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
| | | | - Odile B. Harrison
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | |
Collapse
|
3
|
Sorée M, Lozach S, Kéomurdjian N, Richard D, Hughes A, Delbarre-Ladrat C, Verrez-Bagnis V, Rincé A, Passerini D, Ritchie JM, Heath DH. Virulence phenotypes differ between toxigenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated from western coasts of Europe. Microbiol Res 2024; 285:127744. [PMID: 38735242 DOI: 10.1016/j.micres.2024.127744] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2023] [Revised: 04/19/2024] [Accepted: 04/30/2024] [Indexed: 05/14/2024]
Abstract
Vibrio parahaemolyticus is the leading bacterial cause of gastroenteritis associated with seafood consumption worldwide. Not all members of the species are thought to be pathogenic, thus identification of virulent organisms is essential to protect public health and the seafood industry. Correlations of human disease and known genetic markers (e.g. thermostable direct hemolysin (TDH), TDH-related hemolysin (TRH)) appear complex. Some isolates recovered from patients lack these factors, while their presence has become increasingly noted in isolates recovered from the environment. Here, we used whole-genome sequencing in combination with mammalian and insect models of infection to assess the pathogenic potential of V. parahaemolyticus isolated from European Atlantic shellfish production areas. We found environmental V. parahaemolyticus isolates harboured multiple virulence-associated genes, including TDH and/or TRH. However, carriage of these factors did not necessarily reflect virulence in the mammalian intestine, as an isolate containing TDH and the genes coding for a type 3 secretion system (T3SS) 2α virulence determinant, appeared avirulent. Moreover, environmental V. parahaemolyticus lacking TDH or TRH could be assigned to groups causing low and high levels of mortality in insect larvae, with experiments using defined bacterial mutants showing that a functional T3SS1 contributed to larval death. When taken together, our findings highlight the genetic diversity of V. parahaemolyticus isolates found in the environment, their potential to cause disease and the need for a more systematic evaluation of virulence in diverse V. parahaemolyticus to allow better genetic markers.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Solen Lozach
- Ifremer, Univ Brest, CNRS, IRD, LEMAR, Plouzané F-29280, France
| | | | | | - Alexandra Hughes
- Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom
| | | | | | - Alain Rincé
- Biotargen, Université de Caen Normandie, Saint-Contest F-14380, France
| | | | - Jennifer M Ritchie
- Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom.
| | | |
Collapse
|
4
|
Peñil-Celis A, Tagg KA, Webb HE, Redondo-Salvo S, Francois Watkins L, Vielva L, Griffin C, Kim JY, Folster JP, Garcillan-Barcia MP, de la Cruz F. Mobile genetic elements define the non-random structure of the Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi pangenome. mSystems 2024:e0036524. [PMID: 39058093 DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00365-24] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2024] [Accepted: 06/30/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Bacterial relatedness measured using select chromosomal loci forms the basis of public health genomic surveillance. While approximating vertical evolution through this approach has proven exceptionally valuable for understanding pathogen dynamics, it excludes a fundamental dimension of bacterial evolution-horizontal gene transfer. Incorporating the accessory genome is the logical remediation and has recently shown promise in expanding epidemiological resolution for enteric pathogens. Employing k-mer-based Jaccard index analysis, and a novel genome length distance metric, we computed pangenome (i.e., core and accessory) relatedness for the globally important pathogen Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi (Typhi), and graphically express both vertical (homology-by-descent) and horizontal (homology-by-admixture) evolutionary relationships in a reticulate network of over 2,200 U.S. Typhi genomes. This analysis revealed non-random structure in the Typhi pangenome that is driven predominantly by the gain and loss of mobile genetic elements, confirming and expanding upon known epidemiological patterns, revealing novel plasmid dynamics, and identifying avenues for further genomic epidemiological exploration. With an eye to public health application, this work adds important biological context to the rapidly improving ways of analyzing bacterial genetic data and demonstrates the value of the accessory genome to infer pathogen epidemiology and evolution.IMPORTANCEGiven bacterial evolution occurs in both vertical and horizontal dimensions, inclusion of both core and accessory genetic material (i.e., the pangenome) is a logical step toward a more thorough understanding of pathogen dynamics. With an eye to public, and indeed, global health relevance, we couple contemporary tools for genomic analysis with decades of research on mobile genetic elements to demonstrate the value of the pangenome, known and unknown, annotated, and hypothetical, for stratification of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (Typhi) populations. We confirm and expand upon what is known about Typhi epidemiology, plasmids, and antimicrobial resistance dynamics, and offer new avenues of exploration to further deduce Typhi ecology and evolution, and ultimately to reduce the incidence of human disease.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Arancha Peñil-Celis
- Instituto de Biomedicina y Biotecnología de Cantabria, (CSIC, Universidad de Cantabria), Santander, Spain
| | - Kaitlin A Tagg
- Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Hattie E Webb
- Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Santiago Redondo-Salvo
- Instituto de Biomedicina y Biotecnología de Cantabria, (CSIC, Universidad de Cantabria), Santander, Spain
- Biomar Microbial Technologies, León, Spain
| | - Louise Francois Watkins
- Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Luis Vielva
- Departamento de Ingeniería de las Comunicaciones, Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain
| | - Chelsey Griffin
- Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
- Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
| | - Justin Y Kim
- Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
- ASRT, Inc., Suwanee, Georgia, USA
| | - Jason P Folster
- Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - M Pilar Garcillan-Barcia
- Instituto de Biomedicina y Biotecnología de Cantabria, (CSIC, Universidad de Cantabria), Santander, Spain
| | - Fernando de la Cruz
- Instituto de Biomedicina y Biotecnología de Cantabria, (CSIC, Universidad de Cantabria), Santander, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Raghuram V, Petit RA, Karol Z, Mehta R, Weissman DB, Read TD. Average nucleotide identity-based Staphylococcus aureus strain grouping allows identification of strain-specific genes in the pangenome. mSystems 2024; 9:e0014324. [PMID: 38934646 PMCID: PMC11265343 DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00143-24] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2024] [Accepted: 04/16/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Staphylococcus aureus causes both hospital- and community-acquired infections in humans worldwide. Due to the high incidence of infection, S. aureus is also one of the most sampled and sequenced pathogens today, providing an outstanding resource to understand variation at the bacterial subspecies level. We processed and downsampled 83,383 public S. aureus Illumina whole-genome shotgun sequences and 1,263 complete genomes to produce 7,954 representative substrains. Pairwise comparison of average nucleotide identity revealed a natural boundary of 99.5% that could be used to define 145 distinct strains within the species. We found that intermediate frequency genes in the pangenome (present in 10%-95% of genomes) could be divided into those closely linked to strain background ("strain-concentrated") and those highly variable within strains ("strain-diffuse"). Non-core genes had different patterns of chromosome location. Notably, strain-diffuse genes were associated with prophages; strain-concentrated genes were associated with the vSaβ genome island and rare genes (<10% frequency) concentrated near the origin of replication. Antibiotic resistance genes were enriched in the strain-diffuse class, while virulence genes were distributed between strain-diffuse, strain-concentrated, core, and rare classes. This study shows how different patterns of gene movement help create strains as distinct subspecies entities and provide insight into the diverse histories of important S. aureus functions. IMPORTANCE We analyzed the genomic diversity of Staphylococcus aureus, a globally prevalent bacterial species that causes serious infections in humans. Our goal was to build a genetic picture of the different strains of S. aureus and which genes may be associated with them. We reprocessed >84,000 genomes and subsampled to remove redundancy. We found that individual samples sharing >99.5% of their genome could be grouped into strains. We also showed that a portion of genes that are present in intermediate frequency in the species are strongly associated with some strains but completely absent from others, suggesting a role in strain specificity. This work lays the foundation for understanding individual gene histories of the S. aureus species and also outlines strategies for processing large bacterial genomic data sets.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Vishnu Raghuram
- Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Program, Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Laney Graduate School, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Robert A. Petit
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Zach Karol
- Department of Physics, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Rohan Mehta
- Department of Physics, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | | | - Timothy D. Read
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Taylor AJ, Yahara K, Pascoe B, Ko S, Mageiros L, Mourkas E, Calland JK, Puranen S, Hitchings MD, Jolley KA, Kobras CM, Bayliss S, Williams NJ, van Vliet AHM, Parkhill J, Maiden MCJ, Corander J, Hurst LD, Falush D, Keim P, Didelot X, Kelly DJ, Sheppard SK. Epistasis, core-genome disharmony, and adaptation in recombining bacteria. mBio 2024; 15:e0058124. [PMID: 38683013 PMCID: PMC11237541 DOI: 10.1128/mbio.00581-24] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2024] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Recombination of short DNA fragments via horizontal gene transfer (HGT) can introduce beneficial alleles, create genomic disharmony through negative epistasis, and create adaptive gene combinations through positive epistasis. For non-core (accessory) genes, the negative epistatic cost is likely to be minimal because the incoming genes have not co-evolved with the recipient genome and are frequently observed as tightly linked cassettes with major effects. By contrast, interspecific recombination in the core genome is expected to be rare because disruptive allelic replacement is likely to introduce negative epistasis. Why then is homologous recombination common in the core of bacterial genomes? To understand this enigma, we take advantage of an exceptional model system, the common enteric pathogens Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli that are known for very high magnitude interspecies gene flow in the core genome. As expected, HGT does indeed disrupt co-adapted allele pairings, indirect evidence of negative epistasis. However, multiple HGT events enable recovery of the genome's co-adaption between introgressing alleles, even in core metabolism genes (e.g., formate dehydrogenase). These findings demonstrate that, even for complex traits, genetic coalitions can be decoupled, transferred, and independently reinstated in a new genetic background-facilitating transition between fitness peaks. In this example, the two-step recombinational process is associated with C. coli that are adapted to the agricultural niche.IMPORTANCEGenetic exchange among bacteria shapes the microbial world. From the acquisition of antimicrobial resistance genes to fundamental questions about the nature of bacterial species, this powerful evolutionary force has preoccupied scientists for decades. However, the mixing of genes between species rests on a paradox: 0n one hand, promoting adaptation by conferring novel functionality; on the other, potentially introducing disharmonious gene combinations (negative epistasis) that will be selected against. Taking an interdisciplinary approach to analyze natural populations of the enteric bacteria Campylobacter, an ideal example of long-range admixture, we demonstrate that genes can independently transfer across species boundaries and rejoin in functional networks in a recipient genome. The positive impact of two-gene interactions appears to be adaptive by expanding metabolic capacity and facilitating niche shifts through interspecific hybridization. This challenges conventional ideas and highlights the possibility of multiple-step evolution of multi-gene traits by interspecific introgression.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Aidan J Taylor
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
| | - Koji Yahara
- Antimicrobial Resistance Research Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Ben Pascoe
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Seungwon Ko
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Leonardos Mageiros
- Swansea University Medical School, Institute of Life Science, Swansea, United Kingdom
- The Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
| | | | - Jessica K Calland
- Oslo Centre for Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Santeri Puranen
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Helsinki Institute for Information Technology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Matthew D Hitchings
- Swansea University Medical School, Institute of Life Science, Swansea, United Kingdom
| | - Keith A Jolley
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Carolin M Kobras
- Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Sion Bayliss
- Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Nicola J Williams
- Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Institute of Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool, Leahurst Campus, Wirral, United Kingdom
| | | | - Julian Parkhill
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | | | - Jukka Corander
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Helsinki Institute for Information Technology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Parasites and Microbes, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Laurence D Hurst
- The Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
| | - Daniel Falush
- The Centre for Microbes, Development and Health, Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, Shanghai, China
| | - Paul Keim
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- The Pathogen and Microbiome Institute, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA
- Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA
| | - Xavier Didelot
- Department of Statistics, School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom
| | - David J Kelly
- School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
| | | |
Collapse
|
7
|
Zhang P, Zhang B, Ji Y, Jiao J, Zhang Z, Tian C. Cofitness network connectivity determines a fuzzy essential zone in open bacterial pangenome. MLIFE 2024; 3:277-290. [PMID: 38948139 PMCID: PMC11211677 DOI: 10.1002/mlf2.12132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2023] [Revised: 04/20/2024] [Accepted: 04/24/2024] [Indexed: 07/02/2024]
Abstract
Most in silico evolutionary studies commonly assumed that core genes are essential for cellular function, while accessory genes are dispensable, particularly in nutrient-rich environments. However, this assumption is seldom tested genetically within the pangenome context. In this study, we conducted a robust pangenomic Tn-seq analysis of fitness genes in a nutrient-rich medium for Sinorhizobium strains with a canonical open pangenome. To evaluate the robustness of fitness category assignment, Tn-seq data for three independent mutant libraries per strain were analyzed by three methods, which indicates that the Hidden Markov Model (HMM)-based method is most robust to variations between mutant libraries and not sensitive to data size, outperforming the Bayesian and Monte Carlo simulation-based methods. Consequently, the HMM method was used to classify the fitness category. Fitness genes, categorized as essential (ES), advantage (GA), and disadvantage (GD) genes for growth, are enriched in core genes, while nonessential genes (NE) are over-represented in accessory genes. Accessory ES/GA genes showed a lower fitness effect than core ES/GA genes. Connectivity degrees in the cofitness network decrease in the order of ES, GD, and GA/NE. In addition to accessory genes, 1599 out of 3284 core genes display differential essentiality across test strains. Within the pangenome core, both shared quasi-essential (ES and GA) and strain-dependent fitness genes are enriched in similar functional categories. Our analysis demonstrates a considerable fuzzy essential zone determined by cofitness connectivity degrees in Sinorhizobium pangenome and highlights the power of the cofitness network in understanding the genetic basis of ever-increasing prokaryotic pangenome data.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pan Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Environmental Resilience, and College of Biological SciencesChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina
- MOA Key Laboratory of Soil Microbiology, and Rhizobium Research CenterChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina
- Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced TechnologyChinese Academy of SciencesShenzhenChina
| | - Biliang Zhang
- MOA Key Laboratory of Soil Microbiology, and Rhizobium Research CenterChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina
- State Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Biotechnology Breeding, and College of Biological SciencesChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina
| | - Yuan‐Yuan Ji
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Environmental Resilience, and College of Biological SciencesChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina
- MOA Key Laboratory of Soil Microbiology, and Rhizobium Research CenterChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina
| | - Jian Jiao
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Environmental Resilience, and College of Biological SciencesChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina
- MOA Key Laboratory of Soil Microbiology, and Rhizobium Research CenterChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina
| | - Ziding Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Biotechnology Breeding, and College of Biological SciencesChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina
| | - Chang‐Fu Tian
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Environmental Resilience, and College of Biological SciencesChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina
- MOA Key Laboratory of Soil Microbiology, and Rhizobium Research CenterChina Agricultural UniversityBeijingChina
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Davison C, Tallman S, de Ste-Croix M, Antonio M, Oggioni MR, Kwambana-Adams B, Freund F, Beleza S. Long-term evolution of Streptococcus mitis and Streptococcus pneumoniae leads to higher genetic diversity within rather than between human populations. PLoS Genet 2024; 20:e1011317. [PMID: 38843312 PMCID: PMC11185502 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1011317] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2023] [Revised: 06/18/2024] [Accepted: 05/23/2024] [Indexed: 06/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Evaluation of the apportionment of genetic diversity of human bacterial commensals within and between human populations is an important step in the characterization of their evolutionary potential. Recent studies showed a correlation between the genomic diversity of human commensal strains and that of their host, but the strength of this correlation and of the geographic structure among human populations is a matter of debate. Here, we studied the genomic diversity and evolution of the phylogenetically related oro-nasopharyngeal healthy-carriage Streptococcus mitis and Streptococcus pneumoniae, whose lifestyles range from stricter commensalism to high pathogenic potential. A total of 119 S. mitis genomes showed higher within- and among-host variation than 810 S. pneumoniae genomes in European, East Asian and African populations. Summary statistics of the site-frequency spectrum for synonymous and non-synonymous variation and ABC modelling showed this difference to be due to higher ancestral bacterial population effective size (Ne) in S. mitis, whose genomic variation has been maintained close to mutation-drift equilibrium across (at least many) generations, whereas S. pneumoniae has been expanding from a smaller ancestral bacterial population. Strikingly, both species show limited differentiation among human populations. As genetic differentiation is inversely proportional to the product of effective population size and migration rate (Nem), we argue that large Ne have led to similar differentiation patterns, even if m is very low for S. mitis. We conclude that more diversity within than among human populations and limited population differentiation must be common features of the human microbiome due to large Ne.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Charlotte Davison
- Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
| | - Sam Tallman
- Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
| | - Megan de Ste-Croix
- Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
| | - Martin Antonio
- Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Fajara, The Gambia
- Centre for Epidemic Preparedness and Response, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Infection Biology, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
| | - Marco R. Oggioni
- Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
- Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Brenda Kwambana-Adams
- Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Fajara, The Gambia
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom
- Malawi Liverpool Welcome Programme, Blantyre, Malawi
- Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Fabian Freund
- Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
| | - Sandra Beleza
- Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Dewar AE, Hao C, Belcher LJ, Ghoul M, West SA. Bacterial lifestyle shapes pangenomes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2320170121. [PMID: 38743630 PMCID: PMC11126918 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2320170121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2023] [Accepted: 04/06/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Pangenomes vary across bacteria. Some species have fluid pangenomes, with a high proportion of genes varying between individual genomes. Other species have less fluid pangenomes, with different genomes tending to contain the same genes. Two main hypotheses have been suggested to explain this variation: differences in species' bacterial lifestyle and effective population size. However, previous studies have not been able to test between these hypotheses because the different features of lifestyle and effective population size are highly correlated with each other, and phylogenetically conserved, making it hard to disentangle their relative importance. We used phylogeny-based analyses, across 126 bacterial species, to tease apart the causal role of different factors. We found that pangenome fluidity was lower in i) host-associated compared with free-living species and ii) host-associated species that are obligately dependent on a host, live inside cells, and are more pathogenic and less motile. In contrast, we found no support for the competing hypothesis that larger effective population sizes lead to more fluid pangenomes. Effective population size appears to correlate with pangenome variation because it is also driven by bacterial lifestyle, rather than because of a causal relationship.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anna E. Dewar
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, OxfordOX1 3SZ, United Kingdom
| | - Chunhui Hao
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, OxfordOX1 3SZ, United Kingdom
| | | | - Melanie Ghoul
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, OxfordOX1 3SZ, United Kingdom
| | - Stuart A. West
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, OxfordOX1 3SZ, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Le DQ, Nguyen SH, Nguyen TT, Nguyen CH, Ho TH, Vo NS, Nguyen T, Nguyen HA, Cao MD. AMRViz enables seamless genomics analysis and visualization of antimicrobial resistance. BMC Bioinformatics 2024; 25:193. [PMID: 38755527 PMCID: PMC11100100 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-024-05792-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2023] [Accepted: 04/18/2024] [Indexed: 05/18/2024] Open
Abstract
We have developed AMRViz, a toolkit for analyzing, visualizing, and managing bacterial genomics samples. The toolkit is bundled with the current best practice analysis pipeline allowing researchers to perform comprehensive analysis of a collection of samples directly from raw sequencing data with a single command line. The analysis results in a report showing the genome structure, genome annotations, antibiotic resistance and virulence profile for each sample. The pan-genome of all samples of the collection is analyzed to identify core- and accessory-genes. Phylogenies of the whole genome as well as all gene clusters are also generated. The toolkit provides a web-based visualization dashboard allowing researchers to interactively examine various aspects of the analysis results. Availability: AMRViz is implemented in Python and NodeJS, and is publicly available under open source MIT license at https://github.com/amromics/amrviz .
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Duc Quang Le
- AMROMICS JSC, Nghe An, Vietnam.
- Faculty of IT, Hanoi University of Civil Engineering, Hanoi, Vietnam.
| | | | - Tam Thi Nguyen
- Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Canh Hao Nguyen
- Bioinformatics Center, Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Tho Huu Ho
- Department of Medical Microbiology, The 103 Military Hospital, Vietnam Military Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam
- Department of Genomics and Cytogenetics, Institute of Biomedicine and Pharmacy, Vietnam Military Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Nam S Vo
- Center for Biomedical Informatics, Vingroup Big Data Institute, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
11
|
Dmitrijeva M, Tackmann J, Matias Rodrigues JF, Huerta-Cepas J, Coelho LP, von Mering C. A global survey of prokaryotic genomes reveals the eco-evolutionary pressures driving horizontal gene transfer. Nat Ecol Evol 2024; 8:986-998. [PMID: 38443606 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-024-02357-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2023] [Accepted: 02/05/2024] [Indexed: 03/07/2024]
Abstract
Horizontal gene transfer, the exchange of genetic material through means other than reproduction, is a fundamental force in prokaryotic genome evolution. Genomic persistence of horizontally transferred genes has been shown to be influenced by both ecological and evolutionary factors. However, there is limited availability of ecological information about species other than the habitats from which they were isolated, which has prevented a deeper exploration of ecological contributions to horizontal gene transfer. Here we focus on transfers detected through comparison of individual gene trees to the species tree, assessing the distribution of gene-exchanging prokaryotes across over a million environmental sequencing samples. By analysing detected horizontal gene transfer events, we show distinct functional profiles for recent versus old events. Although most genes transferred are part of the accessory genome, genes transferred earlier in evolution tend to be more ubiquitous within present-day species. We find that co-occurring, interacting and high-abundance species tend to exchange more genes. Finally, we show that host-associated specialist species are most likely to exchange genes with other host-associated specialist species, whereas species found across different habitats have similar gene exchange rates irrespective of their preferred habitat. Our study covers an unprecedented scale of integrated horizontal gene transfer and environmental information, highlighting broad eco-evolutionary trends.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marija Dmitrijeva
- Department of Molecular Life Sciences and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, University of Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Biology, Institute of Microbiology and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Janko Tackmann
- Department of Molecular Life Sciences and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, University of Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | | | - Jaime Huerta-Cepas
- Centro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM)-Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA-CSIC), Campus de Montegancedo-UPM, Madrid, Spain
| | - Luis Pedro Coelho
- Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
- Centre for Microbiome Research, School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Translational Research Institute, Woolloongabba, Queensland, Australia.
| | - Christian von Mering
- Department of Molecular Life Sciences and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, University of Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland.
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Wolf YI, Schurov IV, Makarova KS, Katsnelson MI, Koonin EV. Long range segmentation of prokaryotic genomes by gene age and functionality. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.26.591304. [PMID: 38903122 PMCID: PMC11188115 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.26.591304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/22/2024]
Abstract
Bacterial and archaeal genomes encompass numerous operons that typically consist of two to five genes. On larger scales, however, gene order is poorly conserved through the evolution of prokaryotes. Nevertheless, non-random localization of different classes of genes on prokaryotic chromosomes could reflect important functional and evolutionary constraints. We explored the patterns of genomic localization of evolutionarily conserved (ancient) and variable (young) genes across the diversity of bacteria and archaea. Nearly all bacterial and archaeal chromosomes were found to encompass large segments of 100-300 kilobases that were significantly enriched in either ancient or young genes. Similar clustering of genes with lethal knockout phenotype (essential genes) was observed as well. Mathematical modeling of genome evolution suggests that this long-range gene clustering in prokaryotic chromosomes reflects perpetual genome rearrangement driven by a combination of selective and neutral processes rather than evolutionary conservation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuri I. Wolf
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA
| | - Ilya V. Schurov
- Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University, Nijmegen 6525AJ, The Netherlands
| | - Kira S. Makarova
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA
| | - Mikhail I. Katsnelson
- Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University, Nijmegen 6525AJ, The Netherlands
| | - Eugene V. Koonin
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Piper KR, Ikhimiukor OO, Souza SSR, Garcia-Aroca T, Andam CP. Evolutionary dynamics of the accessory genomes of Staphylococcus aureus. mSphere 2024; 9:e0075123. [PMID: 38501935 PMCID: PMC11036810 DOI: 10.1128/msphere.00751-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2023] [Accepted: 02/24/2024] [Indexed: 03/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Staphylococcus aureus is a ubiquitous commensal and opportunistic bacterial pathogen that can cause a wide gamut of infections, which are exacerbated by the presence of multidrug-resistant and methicillin-resistant S. aureus. S. aureus is genetically heterogeneous and consists of numerous distinct lineages. Using 558 complete genomes of S. aureus, we aim to determine how the accessory genome content among phylogenetic lineages of S. aureus is structured and has evolved. Bayesian hierarchical clustering identified 10 sequence clusters, of which seven contained major sequence types (ST 1, 5, 8, 30, 59, 239, and 398). The seven sequence clusters differed in their accessory gene content, including genes associated with antimicrobial resistance and virulence. Focusing on the two largest clusters, BAPS8 and BAPS10, and each consisting mostly of ST5 and ST8, respectively, we found that the structure and connected components in the co-occurrence networks of accessory genomes varied between them. These differences are explained, in part, by the variation in the rates at which the two sequence clusters gained and lost accessory genes, with the highest rate of gene accumulation occurring recently in their evolutionary histories. We also identified a divergent group within BAPS10 that has experienced high gene gain and loss early in its history. Together, our results show highly variable and dynamic accessory genomes in S. aureus that are structured by the history of the specific lineages that carry them.IMPORTANCEStaphylococcus aureus is an opportunistic, multi-host pathogen that can cause a variety of benign and life-threatening infections. Our results revealed considerable differences in the structure and evolution of the accessory genomes of major lineages within S. aureus. Such genomic variation within a species can have important implications on disease epidemiology, pathogenesis of infection, and interactions with the vertebrate host. Our findings provide important insights into the underlying genetic basis for the success of S. aureus as a highly adaptable and resistant pathogen, which will inform current efforts to control and treat staphylococcal diseases.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kathryn R. Piper
- Department of Biological Sciences, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, New York, USA
| | - Odion O. Ikhimiukor
- Department of Biological Sciences, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, New York, USA
| | - Stephanie S. R. Souza
- Department of Biological Sciences, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, New York, USA
| | - Teddy Garcia-Aroca
- Department of Biological Sciences, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, New York, USA
- Department of Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
| | - Cheryl P. Andam
- Department of Biological Sciences, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, New York, USA
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Liu D, Xie LS, Lian S, Li K, Yang Y, Wang WZ, Hu S, Liu SJ, Liu C, He Z. Anaerostipes hadrus, a butyrate-producing bacterium capable of metabolizing 5-fluorouracil. mSphere 2024; 9:e0081623. [PMID: 38470044 PMCID: PMC11036815 DOI: 10.1128/msphere.00816-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2023] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Anaerostipes hadrus (A. hadrus) is a dominant species in the human gut microbiota and considered a beneficial bacterium for producing probiotic butyrate. However, recent studies have suggested that A. hadrus may negatively affect the host through synthesizing fatty acid and metabolizing the anticancer drug 5-fluorouracil, indicating that the impact of A. hadrus is complex and unclear. Therefore, comprehensive genomic studies on A. hadrus need to be performed. We integrated 527 high-quality public A. hadrus genomes and five distinct metagenomic cohorts. We analyzed these data using the approaches of comparative genomics, metagenomics, and protein structure prediction. We also performed validations with culture-based in vitro assays. We constructed the first large-scale pan-genome of A. hadrus (n = 527) and identified 5-fluorouracil metabolism genes as ubiquitous in A. hadrus genomes as butyrate-producing genes. Metagenomic analysis revealed the wide and stable distribution of A. hadrus in healthy individuals, patients with inflammatory bowel disease, and patients with colorectal cancer, with healthy individuals carrying more A. hadrus. The predicted high-quality protein structure indicated that A. hadrus might metabolize 5-fluorouracil by producing bacterial dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (encoded by the preTA operon). Through in vitro assays, we validated the short-chain fatty acid production and 5-fluorouracil metabolism abilities of A. hadrus. We observed for the first time that A. hadrus can convert 5-fluorouracil to α-fluoro-β-ureidopropionic acid, which may result from the combined action of the preTA operon and adjacent hydA (encoding bacterial dihydropyrimidinase). Our results offer novel understandings of A. hadrus, exceptionally functional features, and potential applications. IMPORTANCE This work provides new insights into the evolutionary relationships, functional characteristics, prevalence, and potential applications of Anaerostipes hadrus.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Danping Liu
- School of Engineering Medicine, Beihang University, Beijing, China
- Key Laboratory of Big Data-Based Precision Medicine, Beihang University, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing, China
- Key Laboratory of Biomechanics and Mechanobiology, Beihang University, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
| | - Li-Sheng Xie
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao, China
| | - Shitao Lian
- School of Engineering Medicine, Beihang University, Beijing, China
- Key Laboratory of Big Data-Based Precision Medicine, Beihang University, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing, China
- Key Laboratory of Biomechanics and Mechanobiology, Beihang University, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
| | - Kexin Li
- Systems Biology and Bioinformatics (SBI), Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology-Hans Knöll Institute (HKI), Jena, Germany
| | - Yun Yang
- School of Engineering Medicine, Beihang University, Beijing, China
- Key Laboratory of Big Data-Based Precision Medicine, Beihang University, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing, China
- Key Laboratory of Biomechanics and Mechanobiology, Beihang University, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
| | - Wen-Zhao Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Songnian Hu
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Shuang-Jiang Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao, China
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Chang Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao, China
| | - Zilong He
- School of Engineering Medicine, Beihang University, Beijing, China
- Key Laboratory of Big Data-Based Precision Medicine, Beihang University, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing, China
- Key Laboratory of Biomechanics and Mechanobiology, Beihang University, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Hauptfeld E, Pappas N, van Iwaarden S, Snoek BL, Aldas-Vargas A, Dutilh BE, von Meijenfeldt FAB. Integrating taxonomic signals from MAGs and contigs improves read annotation and taxonomic profiling of metagenomes. Nat Commun 2024; 15:3373. [PMID: 38643272 PMCID: PMC11032395 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47155-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2023] [Accepted: 03/20/2024] [Indexed: 04/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Metagenomic analysis typically includes read-based taxonomic profiling, assembly, and binning of metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs). Here we integrate these steps in Read Annotation Tool (RAT), which uses robust taxonomic signals from MAGs and contigs to enhance read annotation. RAT reconstructs taxonomic profiles with high precision and sensitivity, outperforming other state-of-the-art tools. In high-diversity groundwater samples, RAT annotates a large fraction of the metagenomic reads, calling novel taxa at the appropriate, sometimes high taxonomic ranks. Thus, RAT integrative profiling provides an accurate and comprehensive view of the microbiome from shotgun metagenomics data. The package of Contig Annotation Tool (CAT), Bin Annotation Tool (BAT), and RAT is available at https://github.com/MGXlab/CAT_pack (from CAT pack v6.0). The CAT pack now also supports Genome Taxonomy Database (GTDB) annotations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ernestina Hauptfeld
- Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, Science for Life, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Nikolaos Pappas
- Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, Science for Life, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Sandra van Iwaarden
- Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, Science for Life, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Basten L Snoek
- Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, Science for Life, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Andrea Aldas-Vargas
- Environmental Technology, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 17, 6700, EV Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Bas E Dutilh
- Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, Science for Life, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
- Institute of Biodiversity, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Cluster of Excellence Balance of the Microverse, Friedrich Schiller University, Rosalind Franklin Strasse 1, 07743, Jena, Germany.
| | - F A Bastiaan von Meijenfeldt
- Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, Science for Life, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
- Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry (MMB), NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, PO Box 59, 1790AB, Den Burg, The Netherlands.
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Carhuaricra-Huaman D, Gonzalez IHL, Ramos PL, da Silva AM, Setubal JC. Analysis of twelve genomes of the bacterium Kerstersia gyiorum from brown-throated sloths ( Bradypus variegatus), the first from a non-human host. PeerJ 2024; 12:e17206. [PMID: 38584940 PMCID: PMC10999152 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.17206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2024] [Accepted: 03/18/2024] [Indexed: 04/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Kerstersia gyiorum is a Gram-negative bacterium found in various animals, including humans, where it has been associated with various infections. Knowledge of the basic biology of K. gyiorum is essential to understand the evolutionary strategies of niche adaptation and how this organism contributes to infectious diseases; however, genomic data about K. gyiorum is very limited, especially from non-human hosts. In this work, we sequenced 12 K. gyiorum genomes isolated from healthy free-living brown-throated sloths (Bradypus variegatus) in the Parque Estadual das Fontes do Ipiranga (São Paulo, Brazil), and compared them with genomes from isolates of human origin, in order to gain insights into genomic diversity, phylogeny, and host specialization of this species. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that these K. gyiorum strains are structured according to host. Despite the fact that sloth isolates were sampled from a single geographic location, the intra-sloth K. gyiorum diversity was divided into three clusters, with differences of more than 1,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms between them, suggesting the circulation of various K. gyiorum lineages in sloths. Genes involved in mobilome and defense mechanisms against mobile genetic elements were the main source of gene content variation between isolates from different hosts. Sloth-specific K. gyiorum genome features include an IncN2 plasmid, a phage sequence, and a CRISPR-Cas system. The broad diversity of defense elements in K. gyiorum (14 systems) may prevent further mobile element flow and explain the low amount of mobile genetic elements in K. gyiorum genomes. Gene content variation may be important for the adaptation of K. gyiorum to different host niches. This study furthers our understanding of diversity, host adaptation, and evolution of K. gyiorum, by presenting and analyzing the first genomes of non-human isolates.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Irys H L Gonzalez
- Coordenadoria de Fauna Silvestre, Secretaria do Meio Ambiente, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - Patricia L Ramos
- Coordenadoria de Fauna Silvestre, Secretaria do Meio Ambiente, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - Aline M da Silva
- Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - Joao C Setubal
- Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Joubert PM, Krasileva KV. Distinct genomic contexts predict gene presence-absence variation in different pathotypes of Magnaporthe oryzae. Genetics 2024; 226:iyae012. [PMID: 38290434 PMCID: PMC10990425 DOI: 10.1093/genetics/iyae012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2023] [Revised: 11/28/2023] [Accepted: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 02/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Fungi use the accessory gene content of their pangenomes to adapt to their environments. While gene presence-absence variation contributes to shaping accessory gene reservoirs, the genomic contexts that shape these events remain unclear. Since pangenome studies are typically species-wide and do not analyze different populations separately, it is yet to be uncovered whether presence-absence variation patterns and mechanisms are consistent across populations. Fungal plant pathogens are useful models for studying presence-absence variation because they rely on it to adapt to their hosts, and members of a species often infect distinct hosts. We analyzed gene presence-absence variation in the blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae (syn. Pyricularia oryzae), and found that presence-absence variation genes involved in host-pathogen and microbe-microbe interactions may drive the adaptation of the fungus to its environment. We then analyzed genomic and epigenomic features of presence-absence variation and observed that proximity to transposable elements, gene GC content, gene length, expression level in the host, and histone H3K27me3 marks were different between presence-absence variation genes and conserved genes. We used these features to construct a model that was able to predict whether a gene is likely to experience presence-absence variation with high precision (86.06%) and recall (92.88%) in M. oryzae. Finally, we found that presence-absence variation genes in the rice and wheat pathotypes of M. oryzae differed in their number and their genomic context. Our results suggest that genomic and epigenomic features of gene presence-absence variation can be used to better understand and predict fungal pangenome evolution. We also show that substantial intra-species variation can exist in these features.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pierre M Joubert
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Center for Computational Biology, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Ksenia V Krasileva
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Center for Computational Biology, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Agapov A, Baker KS, Bedekar P, Bhatia RP, Blower TR, Brockhurst MA, Brown C, Chong CE, Fothergill JL, Graham S, Hall JP, Maestri A, McQuarrie S, Olina A, Pagliara S, Recker M, Richmond A, Shaw SJ, Szczelkun MD, Taylor TB, van Houte S, Went SC, Westra ER, White MF, Wright R. Multi-layered genome defences in bacteria. Curr Opin Microbiol 2024; 78:102436. [PMID: 38368839 DOI: 10.1016/j.mib.2024.102436] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2023] [Revised: 01/22/2024] [Accepted: 01/23/2024] [Indexed: 02/20/2024]
Abstract
Bacteria have evolved a variety of defence mechanisms to protect against mobile genetic elements, including restriction-modification systems and CRISPR-Cas. In recent years, dozens of previously unknown defence systems (DSs) have been discovered. Notably, diverse DSs often coexist within the same genome, and some co-occur at frequencies significantly higher than would be expected by chance, implying potential synergistic interactions. Recent studies have provided evidence of defence mechanisms that enhance or complement one another. Here, we review the interactions between DSs at the mechanistic, regulatory, ecological and evolutionary levels.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Aleksei Agapov
- ESI, Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, UK
| | - Kate S Baker
- Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, CB2 3EH, UK
| | - Paritosh Bedekar
- ESI, Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, UK
| | - Rama P Bhatia
- ESI, Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, UK
| | - Tim R Blower
- Department of Biosciences, Durham University, Stockton Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
| | - Michael A Brockhurst
- Division of Evolution, Infection and Genomics, School of Biological Sciences, University of Manchester, Dover Street, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
| | - Cooper Brown
- School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9ST, UK
| | | | - Joanne L Fothergill
- Dept of Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, UK
| | - Shirley Graham
- School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9ST, UK
| | - James Pj Hall
- Dept of Evolution, Ecology and Behaviour, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, L69 7ZB, UK
| | - Alice Maestri
- ESI, Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, UK
| | - Stuart McQuarrie
- School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9ST, UK
| | - Anna Olina
- ESI, Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, UK
| | | | - Mario Recker
- ESI, Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, UK
| | - Anna Richmond
- ESI, Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, UK
| | - Steven J Shaw
- DNA-Protein Interactions Unit, School of Biochemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol BS6 7YB, UK
| | - Mark D Szczelkun
- DNA-Protein Interactions Unit, School of Biochemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol BS6 7YB, UK
| | - Tiffany B Taylor
- Milner Centre for Evolution, Department of Life Sciences, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
| | | | - Sam C Went
- Department of Biosciences, Durham University, Stockton Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
| | - Edze R Westra
- ESI, Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, UK.
| | - Malcolm F White
- School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9ST, UK
| | - Rosanna Wright
- Division of Evolution, Infection and Genomics, School of Biological Sciences, University of Manchester, Dover Street, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
| |
Collapse
|
19
|
Whiley D, Jolley K, Blanchard A, Coffey T, Leigh J. A core genome multi-locus sequence typing scheme for Streptococcus uberis: an evolution in typing a genetically diverse pathogen. Microb Genom 2024; 10. [PMID: 38512314 DOI: 10.1099/mgen.0.001225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Streptococcus uberis is a globally endemic and poorly controlled cause of bovine mastitis impacting the sustainability of the modern dairy industry. A core genome was derived from 579 newly sequenced S. uberis isolates, along with 305 publicly available genome sequences of S. uberis isolated from 11 countries around the world and used to develop a core genome multi-locus sequence typing (cgMLST) scheme. The S. uberis core genome comprised 1475 genes, and these were used to identify 1447 curated loci that were indexed into the cgMLST scheme. This was able to type 1012 of 1037 (>97 %) isolates used and differentiated the associated sequences into 932 discrete core genome sequence types (cgSTs). Analysis of the phylogenetic relationships of cgSTs revealed no clear clustering of isolates based on metadata such as disease status or year of isolation. Geographical clustering of cgSTs was limited to identification of a UK-centric clade, but cgSTs from UK isolates were also dispersed with those originating from other geographical regions across the entire phylogenetic topology. The cgMLST scheme offers a new tool for the detailed analysis of this globally important pathogen of dairy cattle. Initial analysis has re-emphasized and exemplified the genetically diverse nature of the global population of this opportunistic pathogen.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Whiley
- School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
| | - Keith Jolley
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Adam Blanchard
- School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
| | - Tracey Coffey
- School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
| | - James Leigh
- School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Do V, Nguyen S, Le D, Nguyen T, Nguyen C, Ho T, Vo N, Nguyen T, Nguyen H, Cao M. Pasa: leveraging population pangenome graph to scaffold prokaryote genome assemblies. Nucleic Acids Res 2024; 52:e15. [PMID: 38084888 PMCID: PMC10853769 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkad1170] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2023] [Revised: 11/07/2023] [Accepted: 11/22/2023] [Indexed: 02/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Whole genome sequencing has increasingly become the essential method for studying the genetic mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance and for surveillance of drug-resistant bacterial pathogens. The majority of bacterial genomes sequenced to date have been sequenced with Illumina sequencing technology, owing to its high-throughput, excellent sequence accuracy, and low cost. However, because of the short-read nature of the technology, these assemblies are fragmented into large numbers of contigs, hindering the obtaining of full information of the genome. We develop Pasa, a graph-based algorithm that utilizes the pangenome graph and the assembly graph information to improve scaffolding quality. By leveraging the population information of the bacteria species, Pasa is able to utilize the linkage information of the gene families of the species to resolve the contig graph of the assembly. We show that our method outperforms the current state of the arts in terms of accuracy, and at the same time, is computationally efficient to be applied to a large number of existing draft assemblies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Van Hoan Do
- Center for Applied Mathematics and Informatics, Le Quy Don Technical University, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | | | - Duc Quang Le
- Faculty of IT, Hanoi University of Civil Engineering, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Tam Thi Nguyen
- Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Canh Hao Nguyen
- Bioinformatics Center, Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Japan
| | - Tho Huu Ho
- Department of Medical Microbiology, The 103 Military Hospital, Vietnam Military Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam
- Department of Genomics & Cytogenetics, Institute of Biomedicine & Pharmacy, Vietnam Military Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Nam S Vo
- Center for Biomedical Informatics, Vingroup Big Data Institute, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
21
|
Douglas GM, Shapiro BJ. Pseudogenes act as a neutral reference for detecting selection in prokaryotic pangenomes. Nat Ecol Evol 2024; 8:304-314. [PMID: 38177690 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02268-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2023] [Accepted: 11/10/2023] [Indexed: 01/06/2024]
Abstract
A long-standing question is to what degree genetic drift and selection drive the divergence in rare accessory gene content between closely related bacteria. Rare genes, including singletons, make up a large proportion of pangenomes (all genes in a set of genomes), but it remains unclear how many such genes are adaptive, deleterious or neutral to their host genome. Estimates of species' effective population sizes (Ne) are positively associated with pangenome size and fluidity, which has independently been interpreted as evidence for both neutral and adaptive pangenome models. We hypothesized that pseudogenes, used as a neutral reference, could be used to distinguish these models. We find that most functional categories are depleted for rare pseudogenes when a genome encodes only a single intact copy of a gene family. In contrast, transposons are enriched in pseudogenes, suggesting they are mostly neutral or deleterious to the host genome. Thus, even if individual rare accessory genes vary in their effects on host fitness, we can confidently reject a model of entirely neutral or deleterious rare genes. We also define the ratio of singleton intact genes to singleton pseudogenes (si/sp) within a pangenome, compare this measure across 668 prokaryotic species and detect a signal consistent with the adaptive value of many rare accessory genes. Taken together, our work demonstrates that comparing with pseudogenes can improve inferences of the evolutionary forces driving pangenome variation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gavin M Douglas
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
- McGill Genome Centre, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
| | - B Jesse Shapiro
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
- McGill Genome Centre, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
- McGill Centre for Microbiome Research, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
| |
Collapse
|
22
|
Yu Z, Wang Q, Pinilla-Redondo R, Madsen JS, Clasen KAD, Ananbeh H, Olesen AK, Gong Z, Yang N, Dechesne A, Smets B, Nesme J, Sørensen SJ. Horizontal transmission of a multidrug-resistant IncN plasmid isolated from urban wastewater. ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY 2024; 271:115971. [PMID: 38237397 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2024.115971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2023] [Revised: 01/04/2024] [Accepted: 01/08/2024] [Indexed: 02/05/2024]
Abstract
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are considered reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Given that plasmid-mediated horizontal gene transfer plays a critical role in disseminating ARGs in the environment, it is important to inspect the transfer potential of transmissible plasmids to have a better understanding of whether these mobile ARGs can be hosted by opportunistic pathogens and should be included in One Health's considerations. In this study, we used a fluorescent-reporter-gene based exogenous isolation approach to capture extended-spectrum beta-lactamases encoding mobile determinants from sewer microbiome samples that enter an urban water system (UWS) in Denmark. After screening and sequencing, we isolated a ∼73 Kbp IncN plasmid (pDK_DARWIN) that harboured and expressed multiple ARGs. Using a dual fluorescent reporter gene system, we showed that this plasmid can transfer into resident urban water communities. We demonstrated the transfer of pDK_DARWIN to microbiome members of both the sewer (in the upstream UWS compartment) and wastewater treatment (in the downstream UWS compartment) microbiomes. Sequence similarity search across curated plasmid repositories revealed that pDK_DARWIN derives from an IncN backbone harboured by environmental and nosocomial Enterobacterial isolates. Furthermore, we searched for pDK_DARWIN sequence matches in UWS metagenomes from three countries, revealing that this plasmid can be detected in all of them, with a higher relative abundance in hospital sewers compared to residential sewers. Overall, this study demonstrates that this IncN plasmid is prevalent across Europe and an efficient vector capable of disseminating multiple ARGs in the urban water systems.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zhuofeng Yu
- Section of Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Qinqin Wang
- Section of Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Rafael Pinilla-Redondo
- Section of Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jonas Stenløkke Madsen
- Section of Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Kamille Anna Dam Clasen
- Section of Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Hanadi Ananbeh
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska 1, CZ-613 00 Brno, Czech Republic; Central European Institute of Technology, Brno University of Technology, Purkynova 123, CZ-612 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Asmus Kalckar Olesen
- Section of Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Zhuang Gong
- Section of Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Nan Yang
- Section of Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Arnaud Dechesne
- Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 115, DK-2800 Kgs, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Barth Smets
- Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet 115, DK-2800 Kgs, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Joseph Nesme
- Section of Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
| | - Søren Johannes Sørensen
- Section of Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
Domingo-Sananes MR, Meehan CJ. The population genetics of prokaryotic pangenomes. Nat Ecol Evol 2024; 8:190-191. [PMID: 38177691 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02276-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2024]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Conor J Meehan
- Department of Biosciences, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK
| |
Collapse
|
24
|
Raghuram V, Petit RA, Karol Z, Mehta R, Weissman DB, Read TD. Average Nucleotide Identity based Staphylococcus aureus strain grouping allows identification of strain-specific genes in the pangenome. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.01.29.577756. [PMID: 38352482 PMCID: PMC10862745 DOI: 10.1101/2024.01.29.577756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/22/2024]
Abstract
Staphylococcus aureus causes both hospital and community acquired infections in humans worldwide. Due to the high incidence of infection S. aureus is also one of the most sampled and sequenced pathogens today, providing an outstanding resource to understand variation at the bacterial subspecies level. We processed and downsampled 83,383 public S. aureus Illumina whole genome shotgun sequences and 1,263 complete genomes to produce 7,954 representative substrains. Pairwise comparison of core gene Average Nucleotide Identity (ANI) revealed a natural boundary of 99.5% that could be used to define 145 distinct strains within the species. We found that intermediate frequency genes in the pangenome (present in 10-95% of genomes) could be divided into those closely linked to strain background ("strain-concentrated") and those highly variable within strains ("strain-diffuse"). Non-core genes had different patterns of chromosome location; notably, strain-diffuse associated with prophages, strain-concentrated with the vSaβ genome island and rare genes (<10% frequency) concentrated near the origin of replication. Antibiotic genes were enriched in the strain-diffuse class, while virulence genes were distributed between strain-diffuse, strain-concentrated, core and rare classes. This study shows how different patterns of gene movement help create strains as distinct subspecies entities and provide insight into the diverse histories of important S. aureus functions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Vishnu Raghuram
- Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Program, Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Laney Graduate School, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Robert A Petit
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Zach Karol
- Department of Physics, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Rohan Mehta
- Department of Physics, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | | | - Timothy D. Read
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Reding C, Satapoomin N, Avison MB. Hound: a novel tool for automated mapping of genotype to phenotype in bacterial genomes assembled de novo. Brief Bioinform 2024; 25:bbae057. [PMID: 38385882 PMCID: PMC10883467 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbae057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2023] [Revised: 01/11/2024] [Accepted: 01/26/2024] [Indexed: 02/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Increasing evidence suggests that microbial species have a strong within species genetic heterogeneity. This can be problematic for the analysis of prokaryote genomes, which commonly relies on a reference genome to guide the assembly process. Differences between reference and sample genomes will therefore introduce errors in final assembly, jeopardizing the detection from structural variations to point mutations-critical for genomic surveillance of antibiotic resistance. Here we present Hound, a pipeline that integrates publicly available tools to assemble prokaryote genomes de novo, detect user-given genes by similarity to report mutations found in the coding sequence, promoter, as well as relative gene copy number within the assembly. Importantly, Hound can use the query sequence as a guide to merge contigs, and reconstruct genes that were fragmented by the assembler. To showcase Hound, we screened through 5032 bacterial whole-genome sequences isolated from farmed animals and human infections, using the amino acid sequence encoded by blaTEM-1, to detect and predict resistance to amoxicillin/clavulanate which is driven by over-expression of this gene. We believe this tool can facilitate the analysis of prokaryote species that currently lack a reference genome, and can be scaled either up to build automated systems for genomic surveillance or down to integrate into antibiotic susceptibility point-of-care diagnostics.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Carlos Reding
- University of Bristol School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University Walk, Bristol, BS8 1TD Bristol, UK
| | - Naphat Satapoomin
- University of Bristol School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University Walk, Bristol, BS8 1TD Bristol, UK
| | - Matthew B Avison
- University of Bristol School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University Walk, Bristol, BS8 1TD Bristol, UK
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Viver T, Conrad RE, Rodriguez-R LM, Ramírez AS, Venter SN, Rocha-Cárdenas J, Llabrés M, Amann R, Konstantinidis KT, Rossello-Mora R. Towards estimating the number of strains that make up a natural bacterial population. Nat Commun 2024; 15:544. [PMID: 38228587 PMCID: PMC10791622 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44622-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2023] [Accepted: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/18/2024] Open
Abstract
What a strain is and how many strains make up a natural bacterial population remain elusive concepts despite their apparent importance for assessing the role of intra-population diversity in disease emergence or response to environmental perturbations. To advance these concepts, we sequenced 138 randomly selected Salinibacter ruber isolates from two solar salterns and assessed these genomes against companion short-read metagenomes from the same samples. The distribution of genome-aggregate average nucleotide identity (ANI) values among these isolates revealed a bimodal distribution, with four-fold lower occurrence of values between 99.2% and 99.8% relative to ANI >99.8% or <99.2%, revealing a natural "gap" in the sequence space within species. Accordingly, we used this ANI gap to define genomovars and a higher ANI value of >99.99% and shared gene-content >99.0% to define strains. Using these thresholds and extrapolating from how many metagenomic reads each genomovar uniquely recruited, we estimated that -although our 138 isolates represented about 80% of the Sal. ruber population- the total population in one saltern pond is composed of 5,500 to 11,000 genomovars, the great majority of which appear to be rare in-situ. These data also revealed that the most frequently recovered isolate in lab media was often not the most abundant genomovar in-situ, suggesting that cultivation biases are significant, even in cases that cultivation procedures are thought to be robust. The methodology and ANI thresholds outlined here should represent a useful guide for future microdiversity surveys of additional microbial species.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tomeu Viver
- Marine Microbiology Group, Department of Animal and Microbial Biodiversity, Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA, CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain.
- Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany.
| | - Roth E Conrad
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Luis M Rodriguez-R
- Department of Microbiology, and Digital Science Center (DiSC), Universität of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Ana S Ramírez
- Unidad de Epidemiología y Medicina Preventiva, IUSA, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, C/Trasmontaña s/n, Arucas, 35413, Canary Islands, Spain
| | - Stephanus N Venter
- Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, and Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Jairo Rocha-Cárdenas
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of the Balearic Islands, Palma, 07122, Spain
| | - Mercè Llabrés
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of the Balearic Islands, Palma, 07122, Spain
| | - Rudolf Amann
- Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany
| | - Konstantinos T Konstantinidis
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.
| | - Ramon Rossello-Mora
- Marine Microbiology Group, Department of Animal and Microbial Biodiversity, Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA, CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Spain.
| |
Collapse
|
27
|
Wang X, Feng X. Challenges in estimating effective population sizes from metagenome-assembled genomes. Front Microbiol 2024; 14:1331583. [PMID: 38249456 PMCID: PMC10797056 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1331583] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2023] [Accepted: 12/15/2023] [Indexed: 01/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Effective population size (Ne) plays a critical role in shaping the relative efficiency between natural selection and genetic drift, thereby serving as a cornerstone for understanding microbial ecological dynamics. Direct Ne estimation relies on neutral genetic diversity within closely related genomes, which is, however, often constrained by the culturing difficulties for the vast majority of prokaryotic lineages. Metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) offer a high-throughput alternative for genomic data acquisition, yet their accuracy in Ne estimation has not been fully verified. This study examines the Thermococcus genus, comprising 66 isolated strains and 29 MAGs, to evaluate the reliability of MAGs in Ne estimation. Despite the even distribution across the Thermococcus phylogeny and the comparable internal average nucleotide identity (ANI) between isolate populations and MAG populations, our results reveal consistently lower Ne estimates from MAG populations. This trend of underestimation is also observed in various MAG populations across three other bacterial genera. The underrepresentation of genetic variation in MAGs, including loss of allele frequency data and variable genomic segments, likely contributes to the underestimation of Ne. Our findings underscore the necessity for caution when employing MAGs for evolutionary studies, which often depend on high-quality genome assemblies and nucleotide-level diversity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xiaojun Wang
- Shenzhen Research Institute of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China
| | - Xiaoyuan Feng
- Shenzhen Research Institute of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China
- State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| |
Collapse
|
28
|
Kopf A, Bunk B, Riedel T, Schröttner P. The zoonotic pathogen Wohlfahrtiimonas chitiniclastica - current findings from a clinical and genomic perspective. BMC Microbiol 2024; 24:3. [PMID: 38172653 PMCID: PMC10763324 DOI: 10.1186/s12866-023-03139-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2023] [Accepted: 11/29/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024] Open
Abstract
The zoonotic pathogen Wohlfahrtiimonas chitiniclastica can cause several diseases in humans, including sepsis and bacteremia. Although the pathogenesis is not fully understood, the bacterium is thought to enter traumatic skin lesions via fly larvae, resulting in severe myiasis and/or wound contamination. Infections are typically associated with, but not limited to, infestation of an open wound by fly larvae, poor sanitary conditions, cardiovascular disease, substance abuse, and osteomyelitis. W. chitiniclastica is generally sensitive to a broad spectrum of antibiotics with the exception of fosfomycin. However, increasing drug resistance has been observed and its development should be monitored with caution. In this review, we summarize the currently available knowledge and evaluate it from both a clinical and a genomic perspective.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anna Kopf
- Clinic for Cardiology, Sana Heart Center, Leipziger Str. 50, 03048, Cottbus, Germany
- 2nd Medical Clinic for Hematology, Oncology, Pneumology and Nephrology, Carl-Thiem Hospital Cottbus gGmbH, Cottbus, Germany
| | - Boyke Bunk
- Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH, Inhoffenstrasse 7 B, 38124, Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Thomas Riedel
- Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH, Inhoffenstrasse 7 B, 38124, Braunschweig, Germany
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hannover-Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Percy Schröttner
- Institute for Medical Microbiology and Virology, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
- Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
| |
Collapse
|
29
|
Beavan A, Domingo-Sananes MR, McInerney JO. Contingency, repeatability, and predictability in the evolution of a prokaryotic pangenome. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2304934120. [PMID: 38147560 PMCID: PMC10769857 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2304934120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2023] [Accepted: 11/05/2023] [Indexed: 12/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Pangenomes exhibit remarkable variability in many prokaryotic species, much of which is maintained through the processes of horizontal gene transfer and gene loss. Repeated acquisitions of near-identical homologs can easily be observed across pangenomes, leading to the question of whether these parallel events potentiate similar evolutionary trajectories, or whether the remarkably different genetic backgrounds of the recipients mean that postacquisition evolutionary trajectories end up being quite different. In this study, we present a machine learning method that predicts the presence or absence of genes in the Escherichia coli pangenome based on complex patterns of the presence or absence of other accessory genes within a genome. Our analysis leverages the repeated transfer of genes through the E. coli pangenome to observe patterns of repeated evolution following similar events. We find that the presence or absence of a substantial set of genes is highly predictable from other genes alone, indicating that selection potentiates and maintains gene-gene co-occurrence and avoidance relationships deterministically over long-term bacterial evolution and is robust to differences in host evolutionary history. We propose that at least part of the pangenome can be understood as a set of genes with relationships that govern their likely cohabitants, analogous to an ecosystem's set of interacting organisms. Our findings indicate that intragenomic gene fitness effects may be key drivers of prokaryotic evolution, influencing the repeated emergence of complex gene-gene relationships across the pangenome.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alan Beavan
- School of Life Sciences, The University of Nottingham, NottinghamNG7 2UH, United Kingdom
| | - Maria Rosa Domingo-Sananes
- School of Life Sciences, The University of Nottingham, NottinghamNG7 2UH, United Kingdom
- School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, NottinghamNG1 4FQ, United Kingdom
| | - James O. McInerney
- School of Life Sciences, The University of Nottingham, NottinghamNG7 2UH, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
30
|
Carhuaricra-Huaman D, Setubal JC. Step-by-Step Bacterial Genome Comparison. Methods Mol Biol 2024; 2802:107-134. [PMID: 38819558 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3838-5_5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/01/2024]
Abstract
Thanks to advancements in genome sequencing and bioinformatics, thousands of bacterial genome sequences are available in public databases. This presents an opportunity to study bacterial diversity in unprecedented detail. This chapter describes a complete bioinformatics workflow for comparative genomics of bacterial genomes, including genome annotation, pangenome reconstruction and visualization, phylogenetic analysis, and identification of sequences of interest such as antimicrobial-resistance genes, virulence factors, and phage sequences. The workflow uses state-of-the-art, open-source tools. The workflow is presented by means of a comparative analysis of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium genomes. The workflow is based on Linux commands and scripts, and result visualization relies on the R environment. The chapter provides a step-by-step protocol that researchers with basic expertise in bioinformatics can easily follow to conduct investigations on their own genome datasets.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Dennis Carhuaricra-Huaman
- Programa de Pós-Graduação Interunidades em Bioinformática, Instituto de Matemática e Estatística, Universidade de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
- Research Group in Biotechnology Applied to Animal Health, Production and Conservation (SANIGEN), Laboratory of Biology and Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, San Borja, Lima, Peru
| | - João Carlos Setubal
- Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.
| |
Collapse
|
31
|
Khan K, Jalal K, Uddin R. Pangenome diversification and resistance gene characterization in Salmonella Typhi prioritized RfaJ as a significant therapeutic marker. J Genet Eng Biotechnol 2023; 21:125. [PMID: 37975995 PMCID: PMC10656401 DOI: 10.1186/s43141-023-00591-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2023] [Accepted: 11/06/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Salmonella Typhi stands as the etiological agent responsible for the onset of human typhoid fever. The pressing demand for innovative therapeutic targets against S. Typhi is underscored by the escalating prevalence of this pathogen and the severe nature of its infections. Consequently, this study employs pangenome analysis to scrutinize 119 S. Typhi-resistant strains, aiming to identify the most promising therapeutic targets originating from its core genome. RESULTS Subtractive genomics was employed to systematically eliminate non-homologous (n=1147), essential (n=551), drug-like (n=80), and pathogenicity-related (n=18) proteins from the initial pool of 3351 core genome proteins. Consequently, lipopolysaccharide 1,2-glucosyltransferase RfaJ was designated as the optimal pharmacological target due to its potential versatility. Furthermore, a compendium of 9000 FDA-approved compounds was repurposed for evaluation against the RfaJ drug target, with the specific intent of prioritizing novel, high-potency therapeutic candidates for combating S. Typhi. Ultimately, four compounds, namely DB00549 (Zafirlukast), DB15637 (Fluzoparib), DB15688 (Zavegepant), and DB12411 (Bemcentinib), were singled out as potential inhibitors based on the ligand-protein binding affinity (indicated by the lowest anticipated binding energy) and the overall stability of these compounds. Notably, molecular dynamics simulations, conducted over a 50 nanosecond interval, convincingly demonstrated the stability of these compounds in the context of the RfaJ protein. CONCLUSION In summary, the present findings hold significant promise as an initial stride in the broader drug discovery endeavor against S. Typhi infections. However, the experimental validation of the identified drug target and drug candidate is further required to increase the effectiveness of the applied methodology.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kanwal Khan
- Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi, 75270, Pakistan
| | - Khurshid Jalal
- HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan
| | - Reaz Uddin
- Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi, 75270, Pakistan.
| |
Collapse
|
32
|
Sommer H, Djamalova D, Galardini M. Reduced ambiguity and improved interpretability of bacterial genome-wide associations using gene-cluster-centric k-mers. Microb Genom 2023; 9. [PMID: 37934071 DOI: 10.1099/mgen.0.001129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The wide adoption of bacterial genome sequencing and encoding both core and accessory genome variation using k-mers has allowed bacterial genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to identify genetic variants associated with relevant phenotypes such as those linked to infection. Significant limitations still remain because of k-mers being duplicated across gene clusters and as far as the interpretation of association results is concerned, which affects the wider adoption of GWAS methods on microbial data sets. We have developed a simple computational method (panfeed) that explicitly links each k-mer to their gene cluster at base-resolution level, which allows us to avoid biases introduced by a global de Bruijn graph as well as more easily map and annotate associated variants. We tested panfeed on two independent data sets, correctly identifying previously characterized causal variants, which demonstrates the precision of the method, as well as its scalable performance. panfeed is a command line tool written in the python programming language and is available at https://github.com/microbial-pangenomes-lab/panfeed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hannes Sommer
- Institute for Molecular Bacteriology, TWINCORE Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research, a joint venture between the Hannover Medical School (MHH) and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Hannover, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence RESIST (EXC 2155), Hannover Medical School (MHH), Hannover, Germany
| | - Dilfuza Djamalova
- Institute for Molecular Bacteriology, TWINCORE Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research, a joint venture between the Hannover Medical School (MHH) and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Hannover, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence RESIST (EXC 2155), Hannover Medical School (MHH), Hannover, Germany
| | - Marco Galardini
- Institute for Molecular Bacteriology, TWINCORE Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research, a joint venture between the Hannover Medical School (MHH) and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Hannover, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence RESIST (EXC 2155), Hannover Medical School (MHH), Hannover, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
33
|
Saco A, Rey-Campos M, Gallardo-Escárate C, Gerdol M, Novoa B, Figueras A. Gene presence/absence variation in Mytilus galloprovincialis and its implications in gene expression and adaptation. iScience 2023; 26:107827. [PMID: 37744033 PMCID: PMC10514466 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107827] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2023] [Revised: 07/12/2023] [Accepted: 09/01/2023] [Indexed: 09/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Presence/absence variation (PAV) is a well-known phenomenon in prokaryotes that was described for the first time in bivalves in 2020 in Mytilus galloprovincialis. The objective of the present study was to further our understanding of the PAV phenomenon in mussel biology. The distribution of PAV was studied in a mussel chromosome-level genome assembly, revealing a widespread distribution but with hotspots of dispensability. Special attention was given to the effect of PAV in gene expression, since dispensable genes were found to be inherently subject to distortions due to their sparse distribution among individuals. Furthermore, the high expression and strong tissue specificity of some dispensable genes, such as myticins, strongly supported their biological relevance. The significant differences in the repertoire of dispensable genes associated with two geographically distinct populations suggest that PAV is involved in local adaptation. Overall, the PAV phenomenon would provide a key selective advantage at the population level.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Amaro Saco
- Institute of Marine Research, Spanish National Research Council, Vigo, Spain
| | - Magalí Rey-Campos
- Institute of Marine Research, Spanish National Research Council, Vigo, Spain
| | | | - Marco Gerdol
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
| | - Beatriz Novoa
- Institute of Marine Research, Spanish National Research Council, Vigo, Spain
| | - Antonio Figueras
- Institute of Marine Research, Spanish National Research Council, Vigo, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
34
|
Milner DS, Galindo LJ, Irwin NAT, Richards TA. Transporter Proteins as Ecological Assets and Features of Microbial Eukaryotic Pangenomes. Annu Rev Microbiol 2023; 77:45-66. [PMID: 36944262 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-micro-032421-115538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/23/2023]
Abstract
Here we review two connected themes in evolutionary microbiology: (a) the nature of gene repertoire variation within species groups (pangenomes) and (b) the concept of metabolite transporters as accessory proteins capable of providing niche-defining "bolt-on" phenotypes. We discuss the need for improved sampling and understanding of pangenome variation in eukaryotic microbes. We then review the factors that shape the repertoire of accessory genes within pangenomes. As part of this discussion, we outline how gene duplication is a key factor in both eukaryotic pangenome variation and transporter gene family evolution. We go on to outline how, through functional characterization of transporter-encoding genes, in combination with analyses of how transporter genes are gained and lost from accessory genomes, we can reveal much about the niche range, the ecology, and the evolution of virulence of microbes. We advocate for the coordinated systematic study of eukaryotic pangenomes through genome sequencing and the functional analysis of genes found within the accessory gene repertoire.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- David S Milner
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom;
| | | | - Nicholas A T Irwin
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom;
- Merton College, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Thomas A Richards
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom;
| |
Collapse
|
35
|
Rothstein AP, Jesser KJ, Feistel DJ, Konstantinidis KT, Trueba G, Levy K. Population genomics of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli uncovers high connectivity between urban and rural communities in Ecuador. INFECTION, GENETICS AND EVOLUTION : JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY GENETICS IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES 2023; 113:105476. [PMID: 37392822 PMCID: PMC10599324 DOI: 10.1016/j.meegid.2023.105476] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2023] [Revised: 05/11/2023] [Accepted: 06/28/2023] [Indexed: 07/03/2023]
Abstract
Human movement may be an important driver of transmission dynamics for enteric pathogens but has largely been underappreciated except for international 'travelers' diarrhea or cholera. Phylodynamic methods, which combine genomic and epidemiological data, are used to examine rates and dynamics of disease matching underlying evolutionary history and biogeographic distributions, but these methods often are not applied to enteric bacterial pathogens. We used phylodynamics to explore the phylogeographic and evolutionary patterns of diarrheagenic E. coli in northern Ecuador to investigate the role of human travel in the geographic distribution of strains across the country. Using whole genome sequences of diarrheagenic E. coli isolates, we built a core genome phylogeny, reconstructed discrete ancestral states across urban and rural sites, and estimated migration rates between E. coli populations. We found minimal structuring based on site locations, urban vs. rural locality, pathotype, or clinical status. Ancestral states of phylogenomic nodes and tips were inferred to have 51% urban ancestry and 49% rural ancestry. Lack of structuring by location or pathotype E. coli isolates imply highly connected communities and extensive sharing of genomic characteristics across isolates. Using an approximate structured coalescent model, we estimated rates of migration among circulating isolates were 6.7 times larger for urban towards rural populations compared to rural towards urban populations. This suggests increased inferred migration rates of diarrheagenic E. coli from urban populations towards rural populations. Our results indicate that investments in water and sanitation prevention in urban areas could limit the spread of enteric bacterial pathogens among rural populations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew P. Rothstein
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Kelsey J. Jesser
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Dorian J. Feistel
- School of a Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Konstantinos T. Konstantinidis
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
- School of a Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Gabriel Trueba
- Instituto de Microbiología, Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador
| | - Karen Levy
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
36
|
Villacís JE, Castelán-Sánchez HG, Rojas-Vargas J, Rodríguez-Cruz UE, Albán V, Reyes JA, Meza-Rodríguez PM, Dávila-Ramos S, Villavicencio F, Galarza M, Gestal MC. Emergence of Raoultella ornithinolytica in human infections from different hospitals in Ecuador with OXA-48-producing resistance. Front Microbiol 2023; 14:1216008. [PMID: 37692398 PMCID: PMC10484340 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1216008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2023] [Accepted: 08/01/2023] [Indexed: 09/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this study was to highlight the clinical and molecular features of 13 Raoultella ornithinolytica strains isolated from clinical environments in Ecuador, and to perform comparative genomics with previously published genomes of Raoultella spp. As Raoultella is primarily found in environmental, clinical settings, we focused our work on identifying mechanisms of resistance that can provide this bacterium an advantage to establish and persist in hospital environments. Methods We analyzed 13 strains of Raoultella ornithinolytica isolated from patients with healthcare associated infections (HAI) in three hospitals in Quito and one in Santo Domingo de Los Tsáchilas, Ecuador, between November 2017 and April 2018. These isolates were subjected to phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility testing, end-point polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect the presence of carbapenemases and whole-genome sequencing. Results Polymerase chain reaction revealed that seven isolates were positive isolates for blaOXA-48 and one for blaKPC-2 gene. Of the seven strains that presented the blaOXA-48 gene, six harbored it on an IncFII plasmid, one was inserted into the bacterial chromosome. The blaKPC gene was detected in an IncM2/IncR plasmid. From the bioinformatics analysis, nine genomes had the gene blaOXA-48, originating from Ecuador. Moreover, all R. ornithinolytica strains contained the ORN-1 gene, which confers resistance for β-lactams, such as penicillins and cephalosporins. Comparative genome analysis of the strains showed that the pangenome of R. ornithinolytica is considered an open pangenome, with 27.77% of core genes, which could be explained by the fact that the antibiotic resistance genes in the ancestral reconstruction are relatively new, suggesting that this genome is constantly incorporating new genes. Conclusion These results reveal the genome plasticity of R. ornithinolytica, particularly in acquiring antibiotic-resistance genes. The genomic surveillance and infectious control of these uncommon species are important since they may contribute to the burden of antimicrobial resistance and human health.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- José E. Villacís
- Centro de Investigación para la Salud en América Latina (CISeAL), Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador
- Centro de Referencia Nacional de Resistencia a los Antimicrobianos, Instituto Nacional de Investigación en Salud Pública, “Leopoldo Izquieta Pérez,” Quito, Ecuador
| | - Hugo G. Castelán-Sánchez
- Programa Investigadoras e Investigadores por México, Grupo de Genómica y Dinámica Evolutiva de Microorganismos Emergentes, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, México City, Mexico
- Centro de Investigación en Dinámica Celular, Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Básicas y Aplicadas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Jorge Rojas-Vargas
- Departamento de Microbiología Molecular, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Ulises E. Rodríguez-Cruz
- Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México City, Mexico
| | - Viviana Albán
- Centro de Referencia Nacional de Resistencia a los Antimicrobianos, Instituto Nacional de Investigación en Salud Pública, “Leopoldo Izquieta Pérez,” Quito, Ecuador
- Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Jorge A. Reyes
- Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Central del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Pablo M. Meza-Rodríguez
- Centro de Investigación en Dinámica Celular, Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Básicas y Aplicadas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Sonia Dávila-Ramos
- Centro de Investigación en Dinámica Celular, Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Básicas y Aplicadas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Fernando Villavicencio
- Centro de Referencia Nacional de Resistencia a los Antimicrobianos, Instituto Nacional de Investigación en Salud Pública, “Leopoldo Izquieta Pérez,” Quito, Ecuador
| | | | - Monica C. Gestal
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Louisiana State University (LSU), Health Science Center at Shreveport, Shreveport, LA, United States
| |
Collapse
|
37
|
Kim M, Cha IT, Lee KE, Li M, Park SJ. Pangenome analysis provides insights into the genetic diversity, metabolic versatility, and evolution of the genus Flavobacterium. Microbiol Spectr 2023; 11:e0100323. [PMID: 37594286 PMCID: PMC10655711 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.01003-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2023] [Accepted: 07/04/2023] [Indexed: 08/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Members of the genus Flavobacterium are widely distributed and produce various polysaccharide-degrading enzymes. Many species in the genus have been isolated and characterized. However, few studies have focused on marine isolates or fish pathogens, and in-depth genomic analyses, particularly comparative analyses of isolates from different habitat types, are lacking. Here, we isolated 20 strains of the genus from various environments in South Korea and sequenced their full-length genomes. Combined with published sequence data, we examined genomic traits, evolution, environmental adaptation, and putative metabolic functions in total 187 genomes of isolated species in Flavobacterium categorized as marine, host-associated, and terrestrial including freshwater. A pangenome analysis revealed a correlation between genome size and coding or noncoding density. Flavobacterium spp. had high levels of diversity, allowing for novel gene repertories via recombination events. Defense-related genes only accounted for approximately 3% of predicted genes in all Flavobacterium genomes. While genes involved in metabolic pathways did not differ with respect to isolation source, there was substantial variation in genomic traits; in particular, the abundances of tRNAs and rRNAs were higher in the host-associdated group than in other groups. One genome in the host-associated group contained a Microviridae prophage closely related to an enterobacteria phage. The proteorhodopsin gene was only identified in four terrestrial strains isolated for this study. Furthermore, recombination events clearly influenced genomic diversity and may contribute to the response to environmental stress. These findings shed light on the high genetic variation in Flavobacterium and functional roles in diverse ecosystems as a result of their metabolic versatility. IMPORTANCE The genus Flavobacterium is a diverse group of bacteria that are found in a variety of environments. While most species of this genus are harmless and utilize organic substrates such as proteins and polysaccharides, some members may play a significant role in the cycling for organic substances within their environments. Nevertheless, little is known about the genomic dynamics and/or metabolic capacity of Flavobacterium. Here, we found that Flavobacterium species may have an open pangenome, containing a variety of diverse and novel gene repertoires. Intriguingly, we discovered that one genome (classified into host-associated group) contained a Microviridae prophage closely related to that of enterobacteria. Proteorhodopsin may be expressed under conditions of light or oxygen pressure in some strains isolated for this study. Our findings significantly contribute to the understanding of the members of the genus Flavobacterium diversity exploration and will provide a framework for the way for future ecological characterizations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Minji Kim
- Department of Biology, Jeju National University, Jeju, South Korea
| | - In-Tae Cha
- Microorganism Resources Division, National Institute of Biological Resources, Incheon, South Korea
| | - Ki-Eun Lee
- Microorganism Resources Division, National Institute of Biological Resources, Incheon, South Korea
| | - Meng Li
- Archaeal Biology Center, Institute for Advanced Study, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Marine Microbiome Engineering, Institute for Advanced Study, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Soo-Je Park
- Department of Biology, Jeju National University, Jeju, South Korea
| |
Collapse
|
38
|
Byrne A, Bissonnette N, Ollier S, Tahlan K. Investigating in vivo Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis microevolution and mixed strain infections. Microbiol Spectr 2023; 11:e0171623. [PMID: 37584606 PMCID: PMC10581078 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.01716-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2023] [Accepted: 07/10/2023] [Indexed: 08/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) causes Johne's Disease (JD) in ruminants, which is responsible for significant economic loss to the global dairy industry. Mixed strain infection (MSI) refers to the concurrent infection of a susceptible host with genetically distinct strains of a pathogen, whereas within-host changes in an infecting strain leading to genetically distinguishable progeny is called microevolution. The two processes can influence host-pathogen dynamics, disease progression and outcomes, but not much is known about their prevalence and impact on JD. Therefore, we obtained up to 10 MAP isolates each from 14 high-shedding animals and subjected them to whole-genome sequencing. Twelve of the 14 animals examined showed evidence for the presence of MSIs and microevolution, while the genotypes of MAP isolates from the remaining two animals could be attributed solely to microevolution. All MAP isolates that were otherwise isogenic had differences in short sequence repeats (SSRs), of which SSR1 and SSR2 were the most diverse and homoplastic. Variations in SSR1 and SSR2, which are located in ORF1 and ORF2, respectively, affect the genetic reading frame, leading to protein products with altered sequences and computed structures. The ORF1 gene product is predicted to be a MAP surface protein with possible roles in host immune modulation, but nothing could be inferred regarding the function of ORF2. Both genes are conserved in Mycobacterium avium complex members, but SSR1-based modulation of ORF1 reading frames seems to only occur in MAP, which could have potential implications on the infectivity of this pathogen. IMPORTANCE Johne's disease (JD) is a major problem in dairy animals, and concerns have been raised regarding the association of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) with Crohn's disease in humans. MAP is an extremely slow-growing bacterium with low genome evolutionary rates. Certain short sequence repeats (SSR1 and SSR2) in the MAP chromosome are highly variable and evolve at a faster rate than the rest of the chromosome. In the current study, multiple MAP isolates with genetic variations such as single-nucleotide polymorphisms, and more noticeably, diverse SSRs, could simultaneously infect animals. Variations in SSR1 and SSR2 affect the products of the respective genes containing them. Since multiple MAP isolates can infect the same animal and the possibility that the pathogen undergoes further changes within the host due to unstable SSRs, this could provide a compensative mechanism for an otherwise slow-evolving pathogen to increase phenotypic diversity for overcoming host responses.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Byrne
- Department of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
| | - Nathalie Bissonnette
- Sherbrooke Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
| | - Séverine Ollier
- Sherbrooke Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
| | - Kapil Tahlan
- Department of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
39
|
Hall MB, Lima L, Coin LJM, Iqbal Z. Drug resistance prediction for Mycobacterium tuberculosis with reference graphs. Microb Genom 2023; 9:mgen001081. [PMID: 37552534 PMCID: PMC10483414 DOI: 10.1099/mgen.0.001081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2023] [Accepted: 07/14/2023] [Indexed: 08/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Tuberculosis is a global pandemic disease with a rising burden of antimicrobial resistance. As a result, the World Health Organization (WHO) has a goal of enabling universal access to drug susceptibility testing (DST). Given the slowness of and infrastructure requirements for phenotypic DST, whole-genome sequencing, followed by genotype-based prediction of DST, now provides a route to achieving this. Since a central component of genotypic DST is to detect the presence of any known resistance-causing mutations, a natural approach is to use a reference graph that allows encoding of known variation. We have developed DrPRG (Drug resistance Prediction with Reference Graphs) using the bacterial reference graph method Pandora. First, we outline the construction of a Mycobacterium tuberculosis drug resistance reference graph. The graph is built from a global dataset of isolates with varying drug susceptibility profiles, thus capturing common and rare resistance- and susceptible-associated haplotypes. We benchmark DrPRG against the existing graph-based tool Mykrobe and the haplotype-based approach of TBProfiler using 44 709 and 138 publicly available Illumina and Nanopore samples with associated phenotypes. We find that DrPRG has significantly improved sensitivity and specificity for some drugs compared to these tools, with no significant decreases. It uses significantly less computational memory than both tools, and provides significantly faster runtimes, except when runtime is compared to Mykrobe with Nanopore data. We discover and discuss novel insights into resistance-conferring variation for M. tuberculosis - including deletion of genes katG and pncA - and suggest mutations that may warrant reclassification as associated with resistance.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Michael B. Hall
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, UK
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Leandro Lima
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, UK
| | - Lachlan J. M. Coin
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Zamin Iqbal
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, UK
| |
Collapse
|
40
|
Mateos K, Chappell G, Klos A, Le B, Boden J, Stüeken E, Anderson R. The evolution and spread of sulfur cycling enzymes reflect the redox state of the early Earth. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2023; 9:eade4847. [PMID: 37418533 PMCID: PMC10328410 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ade4847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2022] [Revised: 02/06/2023] [Accepted: 06/05/2023] [Indexed: 07/09/2023]
Abstract
The biogeochemical sulfur cycle plays a central role in fueling microbial metabolisms, regulating the Earth's redox state, and affecting climate. However, geochemical reconstructions of the ancient sulfur cycle are confounded by ambiguous isotopic signals. We use phylogenetic reconciliation to ascertain the timing of ancient sulfur cycling gene events across the tree of life. Our results suggest that metabolisms using sulfide oxidation emerged in the Archean, but those involving thiosulfate emerged only after the Great Oxidation Event. Our data reveal that observed geochemical signatures resulted not from the expansion of a single type of organism but were instead associated with genomic innovation across the biosphere. Moreover, our results provide the first indication of organic sulfur cycling from the Mid-Proterozoic onwards, with implications for climate regulation and atmospheric biosignatures. Overall, our results provide insights into how the biological sulfur cycle evolved in tandem with the redox state of the early Earth.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Katherine Mateos
- Carleton College, Northfield, MN, USA
- Ocean Sciences Department, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Garrett Chappell
- Carleton College, Northfield, MN, USA
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Aya Klos
- Carleton College, Northfield, MN, USA
| | - Bryan Le
- Carleton College, Northfield, MN, USA
| | - Joanne Boden
- University of St. Andrews, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Bute Building, Queen’s Terrace, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9TS, UK
| | - Eva Stüeken
- University of St. Andrews, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Bute Building, Queen’s Terrace, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9TS, UK
| | - Rika Anderson
- Carleton College, Northfield, MN, USA
- NASA NExSS Virtual Planetary Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
41
|
Kumari K, Rawat V, Shadan A, Sharma PK, Deb S, Singh RP. In-depth genome and pan-genome analysis of a metal-resistant bacterium Pseudomonas parafulva OS-1. Front Microbiol 2023; 14:1140249. [PMID: 37408640 PMCID: PMC10318148 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1140249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2023] [Accepted: 05/29/2023] [Indexed: 07/07/2023] Open
Abstract
A metal-resistant bacterium Pseudomonas parafulva OS-1 was isolated from waste-contaminated soil in Ranchi City, India. The isolated strain OS-1 showed its growth at 25-45°C, pH 5.0-9.0, and in the presence of ZnSO4 (upto 5 mM). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain OS-1 belonged to the genus Pseudomonas and was most closely related to parafulva species. To unravel the genomic features, we sequenced the complete genome of P. parafulva OS-1 using Illumina HiSeq 4,000 sequencing platform. The results of average nucleotide identity (ANI) analysis indicated the closest similarity of OS-1 to P. parafulva PRS09-11288 and P. parafulva DTSP2. The metabolic potential of P. parafulva OS-1 based on Clusters of Othologous Genes (COG) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) indicated a high number of genes related to stress protection, metal resistance, and multiple drug-efflux, etc., which is relatively rare in P. parafulva strains. Compared with other parafulva strains, P. parafulva OS-1 was found to have the unique β-lactam resistance and type VI secretion system (T6SS) gene. Additionally, its genomes encode various CAZymes such as glycoside hydrolases and other genes associated with lignocellulose breakdown, suggesting that strain OS-1 have strong biomass degradation potential. The presence of genomic complexity in the OS-1 genome indicates that horizontal gene transfer (HGT) might happen during evolution. Therefore, genomic and comparative genome analysis of parafulva strains is valuable for further understanding the mechanism of resistance to metal stress and opens a perspective to exploit a newly isolated bacterium for biotechnological applications.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kiran Kumari
- Department of Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
| | - Vaishnavi Rawat
- Department of Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
| | - Afreen Shadan
- Department of Microbiology, Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukerjee University, Ranchi, India
| | - Parva Kumar Sharma
- Department of Plant Sciences and Landscape Architecture, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States
| | - Sushanta Deb
- Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, Washington State University (WSU), Pullman, WA, United States
| | - Rajnish Prakash Singh
- Department of Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
| |
Collapse
|
42
|
Tran TH, Roberts AQ, Escapa IF, Gao W, Segre JA, Kong HH, Conlan S, Kelly MS, Lemon KP. Metabolic capabilities are highly conserved among human nasal-associated Corynebacterium species in pangenomic analyses. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.06.05.543719. [PMID: 37333201 PMCID: PMC10274666 DOI: 10.1101/2023.06.05.543719] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/20/2023]
Abstract
Corynebacterium species are globally ubiquitous in human nasal microbiota across the lifespan. Moreover, nasal microbiota profiles typified by higher relative abundances of Corynebacterium are often positively associated with health. Among the most common human nasal Corynebacterium species are C. propinquum, C. pseudodiphtheriticum, C. accolens, and C. tuberculostearicum. Based on the prevalence of these species, at least two likely coexist in the nasal microbiota of 82% of adults. To gain insight into the functions of these four species, we identified genomic, phylogenomic, and pangenomic properties and estimated the functional protein repertoire and metabolic capabilities of 87 distinct human nasal Corynebacterium strain genomes: 31 from Botswana and 56 from the U.S. C. pseudodiphtheriticum had geographically distinct clades consistent with localized strain circulation, whereas some strains from the other species had wide geographic distribution across Africa and North America. All four species had similar genomic and pangenomic structures. Gene clusters assigned to all COG metabolic categories were overrepresented in the persistent (core) compared to the accessory genome of each species indicating limited strain-level variability in metabolic capacity. Moreover, core metabolic capabilities were highly conserved among the four species indicating limited species-level metabolic variation. Strikingly, strains in the U.S. clade of C. pseudodiphtheriticum lacked genes for assimilatory sulfate reduction present in the Botswanan clade and in the other studied species, indicating a recent, geographically related loss of assimilatory sulfate reduction. Overall, the minimal species and strain variability in metabolic capacity implies coexisting strains might have limited ability to occupy distinct metabolic niches.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tommy H. Tran
- Alkek Center for Metagenomics & Microbiome Research, Department of Molecular Virology & Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Ari Q. Roberts
- Alkek Center for Metagenomics & Microbiome Research, Department of Molecular Virology & Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Isabel F. Escapa
- Alkek Center for Metagenomics & Microbiome Research, Department of Molecular Virology & Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Wei Gao
- The Forsyth Institute (Microbiology), Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Oral Medicine, Infection and Immunity, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Julie A. Segre
- Microbial Genomics Section, Translational and Functional Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Heidi H. Kong
- Dermatology Branch, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Sean Conlan
- Microbial Genomics Section, Translational and Functional Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Matthew S. Kelly
- Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Katherine P. Lemon
- Alkek Center for Metagenomics & Microbiome Research, Department of Molecular Virology & Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Texas Children’s Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
| |
Collapse
|
43
|
Yang MR, Su SF, Wu YW. Using bacterial pan-genome-based feature selection approach to improve the prediction of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Front Genet 2023; 14:1054032. [PMID: 37323667 PMCID: PMC10267731 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1054032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2022] [Accepted: 05/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Background: Predicting the resistance profiles of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) pathogens is becoming more and more important in treating infectious diseases. Various attempts have been made to build machine learning models to classify resistant or susceptible pathogens based on either known antimicrobial resistance genes or the entire gene set. However, the phenotypic annotations are translated from minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), which is the lowest concentration of antibiotic drugs in inhibiting certain pathogenic strains. Since the MIC breakpoints that classify a strain to be resistant or susceptible to specific antibiotic drug may be revised by governing institutes, we refrained from translating these MIC values into the categories "susceptible" or "resistant" but instead attempted to predict the MIC values using machine learning approaches. Results: By applying a machine learning feature selection approach on a Salmonella enterica pan-genome, in which the protein sequences were clustered to identify highly similar gene families, we showed that the selected features (genes) performed better than known AMR genes, and that models built on the selected genes achieved very accurate MIC prediction. Functional analysis revealed that about half of the selected genes were annotated as hypothetical proteins (i.e., with unknown functional roles), and that only a small portion of known AMR genes were among the selected genes, indicating that applying feature selection on the entire gene set has the potential of uncovering novel genes that may be associated with and may contribute to pathogenic antimicrobial resistances. Conclusion: The application of the pan-genome-based machine learning approach was indeed capable of predicting MIC values with very high accuracy. The feature selection process may also identify novel AMR genes for inferring bacterial antimicrobial resistance phenotypes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ming-Ren Yang
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medical Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Shun-Feng Su
- Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Wei Wu
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medical Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Clinical Big Data Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
- TMU Research Center for Digestive Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
| |
Collapse
|
44
|
Huang W, Hu S, Zhu Y, Liu S, Zhou X, Fang Y, Lu Y, Wang R. Metagenomic surveillance and comparative genomic analysis of Chlamydia psittaci in patients with pneumonia. Front Microbiol 2023; 14:1157888. [PMID: 37323913 PMCID: PMC10265514 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1157888] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2023] [Accepted: 05/12/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Chlamydia psittaci, a strictly intracellular bacterium, is an underestimated etiologic agent leading to infections in a broad range of animals and mild illness or pneumonia in humans. In this study, the metagenomes of bronchoalveolar lavage fluids from the patients with pneumonia were sequenced and highly abundant C. psittaci was found. The target-enriched metagenomic reads were recruited to reconstruct draft genomes with more than 99% completeness. Two C. psittaci strains from novel sequence types were detected and these were closely related to the animal-borne isolates derived from the lineages of ST43 and ST28, indicating the zoonotic transmissions of C. psittaci would benefit its prevalence worldwide. Comparative genomic analysis combined with public isolate genomes revealed that the pan-genome of C. psittaci possessed a more stable gene repertoire than those of other extracellular bacteria, with ~90% of the genes per genome being conserved core genes. Furthermore, the evidence for significantly positive selection was identified in 20 virulence-associated gene products, particularly bacterial membrane-embedded proteins and type three secretion machines, which may play important roles in the pathogen-host interactions. This survey uncovered novel strains of C. psittaci causing pneumonia and the evolutionary analysis characterized prominent gene candidates involved in bacterial adaptation to immune pressures. The metagenomic approach is of significance to the surveillance of difficult-to-culture intracellular pathogens and the research into molecular epidemiology and evolutionary biology of C. psittaci.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Weifeng Huang
- Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Shuqin Hu
- Department of Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai General Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yongzhe Zhu
- Department of Microbiology, Navy Medical University, Shanghai, China
| | - Shijia Liu
- Department of Pulmonary Disease, PLA 905 Hospital, Shanghai, China
| | - Xingya Zhou
- Genoxor Medical Science and Technology Inc., Shanghai, China
| | - Yuan Fang
- Genoxor Medical Science and Technology Inc., Shanghai, China
| | - Yihan Lu
- Department of Epidemiology, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Shanghai Institute of Infectious Disease and Biosecurity, Shanghai, China
| | - Ruilan Wang
- Department of Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai General Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Shanghai, China
| |
Collapse
|
45
|
Barona-Gómez F, Chevrette MG, Hoskisson PA. On the evolution of natural product biosynthesis. Adv Microb Physiol 2023; 83:309-349. [PMID: 37507161 DOI: 10.1016/bs.ampbs.2023.05.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/30/2023]
Abstract
Natural products are the raw material for drug discovery programmes. Bioactive natural products are used extensively in medicine and agriculture and have found utility as antibiotics, immunosuppressives, anti-cancer drugs and anthelminthics. Remarkably, the natural role and what mechanisms drive evolution of these molecules is relatively poorly understood. The exponential increase in genome and chemical data in recent years, coupled with technical advances in bioinformatics and genetics have enabled progress to be made in understanding the evolution of biosynthetic gene clusters and the products of their enzymatic machinery. Here we discuss the diversity of natural products, incorporating the mechanisms that govern evolution of metabolic pathways and how this can be applied to biosynthetic gene clusters. We build on the nomenclature of natural products in terms of primary, integrated, secondary and specialised metabolism and place this within an ecology-evolutionary-developmental biology framework. This eco-evo-devo framework we believe will help to clarify the nature and use of the term specialised metabolites in the future.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Marc G Chevrette
- Department of Microbiology and Cell Sciences, University of Florida, Museum Drive, Gainesville, FL, United States; University of Florida Genetics Institute, University of Florida, Mowry Road, Gainesville, FL, United States
| | - Paul A Hoskisson
- Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde, Cathedral Street, Glasgow, United Kingdom.
| |
Collapse
|
46
|
von Meijenfeldt FAB, Hogeweg P, Dutilh BE. A social niche breadth score reveals niche range strategies of generalists and specialists. Nat Ecol Evol 2023; 7:768-781. [PMID: 37012375 PMCID: PMC10172124 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02027-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2022] [Accepted: 02/27/2023] [Indexed: 04/05/2023]
Abstract
Generalists can survive in many environments, whereas specialists are restricted to a single environment. Although a classical concept in ecology, niche breadth has remained challenging to quantify for microorganisms because it depends on an objective definition of the environment. Here, by defining the environment of a microorganism as the community it resides in, we integrated information from over 22,000 environmental sequencing samples to derive a quantitative measure of the niche, which we call social niche breadth. At the level of genera, we explored niche range strategies throughout the prokaryotic tree of life. We found that social generalists include opportunists that stochastically dominate local communities, whereas social specialists are stable but low in abundance. Social generalists have a more diverse and open pan-genome than social specialists, but we found no global correlation between social niche breadth and genome size. Instead, we observed two distinct evolutionary strategies, whereby specialists have relatively small genomes in habitats with low local diversity, but relatively large genomes in habitats with high local diversity. Together, our analysis shines data-driven light on microbial niche range strategies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- F A Bastiaan von Meijenfeldt
- Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, Department of Biology, Science for Life, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
- Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Texel, the Netherlands
| | - Paulien Hogeweg
- Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, Department of Biology, Science for Life, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Bas E Dutilh
- Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, Department of Biology, Science for Life, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
- Institute of Biodiversity, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Cluster of Excellence Balance of the Microverse, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany.
| |
Collapse
|
47
|
Joubert PM, Krasileva KV. Distinct genomic contexts predict gene presence-absence variation in different pathotypes of a fungal plant pathogen. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.02.17.529015. [PMID: 36824763 PMCID: PMC9949116 DOI: 10.1101/2023.02.17.529015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/20/2023]
Abstract
Background Fungi use the accessory segments of their pan-genomes to adapt to their environments. While gene presence-absence variation (PAV) contributes to shaping these accessory gene reservoirs, whether these events happen in specific genomic contexts remains unclear. Additionally, since pan-genome studies often group together all members of the same species, it is uncertain whether genomic or epigenomic features shaping pan-genome evolution are consistent across populations within the same species. Fungal plant pathogens are useful models for answering these questions because members of the same species often infect distinct hosts, and they frequently rely on gene PAV to adapt to these hosts. Results We analyzed gene PAV in the rice and wheat blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae, and found that PAV of disease-causing effectors, antibiotic production, and non-self-recognition genes may drive the adaptation of the fungus to its environment. We then analyzed genomic and epigenomic features and data from available datasets for patterns that might help explain these PAV events. We observed that proximity to transposable elements (TEs), gene GC content, gene length, expression level in the host, and histone H3K27me3 marks were different between PAV genes and conserved genes, among other features. We used these features to construct a random forest classifier that was able to predict whether a gene is likely to experience PAV with high precision (86.06%) and recall (92.88%) in rice-infecting M. oryzae. Finally, we found that PAV in wheat- and rice-infecting pathotypes of M. oryzae differed in their number and their genomic context. Conclusions Our results suggest that genomic and epigenomic features of gene PAV can be used to better understand and even predict fungal pan-genome evolution. We also show that substantial intra-species variation can exist in these features.
Collapse
|
48
|
Comparative Genome Analysis of Enterococcus cecorum Reveals Intercontinental Spread of a Lineage of Clinical Poultry Isolates. mSphere 2023; 8:e0049522. [PMID: 36794931 PMCID: PMC10117131 DOI: 10.1128/msphere.00495-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Enterococcus cecorum is an emerging pathogen responsible for osteomyelitis, spondylitis, and femoral head necrosis causing animal suffering and mortality and requiring antimicrobial use in poultry. Paradoxically, E. cecorum is a common inhabitant of the intestinal microbiota of adult chickens. Despite evidence suggesting the existence of clones with pathogenic potential, the genetic and phenotypic relatedness of disease-associated isolates remains little investigated. Here, we sequenced and analyzed the genomes and characterized the phenotypes of more than 100 isolates, the majority of which were collected over the last 10 years from 16 French broiler farms. Comparative genomics, genome-wide association studies, and the measured susceptibility to serum, biofilm-forming capacity, and adhesion to chicken type II collagen were used to identify features associated with clinical isolates. We found that none of the tested phenotypes could discriminate the origin of the isolates or the phylogenetic group. Instead, we found that most clinical isolates are grouped phylogenetically, and our analyses selected six genes that discriminate 94% of isolates associated with disease from those that are not. Analysis of the resistome and the mobilome revealed that multidrug-resistant clones of E. cecorum cluster into a few clades and that integrative conjugative elements and genomic islands are the main carriers of antimicrobial resistance. This comprehensive genomic analysis shows that disease-associated clones of E. cecorum belong mainly to one phylogenetic clade. IMPORTANCE Enterococcus cecorum is an important pathogen of poultry worldwide. It causes a number of locomotor disorders and septicemia, particularly in fast-growing broilers. Animal suffering, antimicrobial use, and associated economic losses require a better understanding of disease-associated E. cecorum isolates. To address this need, we performed whole-genome sequencing and analysis of a large collection of isolates responsible for outbreaks in France. By providing the first data set on the genetic diversity and resistome of E. cecorum strains circulating in France, we pinpoint an epidemic lineage that is probably also circulating elsewhere that should be targeted preferentially by preventive strategies in order to reduce the burden of E. cecorum-related diseases.
Collapse
|
49
|
Fàbregas N, Pérez D, Viñes J, Cuscó A, Migura-García L, Ferrer L, Francino O. Diverse Populations of Staphylococcus pseudintermedius Colonize the Skin of Healthy Dogs. Microbiol Spectr 2023; 11:e0339322. [PMID: 36786649 PMCID: PMC10100665 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.03393-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2022] [Accepted: 01/26/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Staphylococcus pseudintermedius is a commensal bacterium of the canine skin but is also a key opportunistic pathogen that is responsible for most cases of pyoderma in dogs. The current paradigm indicates that infection arises when predisposing factors alter the healthy skin barrier. Despite their importance, the characteristics of the S. pseudintermedius populations colonizing the skin of healthy dogs are yet largely unknown. Here, we retrieved 67 complete circular genomes and 19 associated plasmids from S. pseudintermedius isolated from the skin of 9 healthy dogs via long-reads Nanopore sequencing. Within the S. pseudintermedius populations isolated from healthy skin, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) detected 10 different STs, distributed mainly by the host. 39% of the 18 representative genomes isolated herein were methicillin-resistant S. pseudintermedius (MRSP), and they showed, on average, a higher number of antibiotic resistance genes and prophages than did the methicillin-sensitive (MSSP). In summary, our results revealed that the S. pseudintermedius populations inhabiting the skin of healthy dogs are relatively diverse and heterogeneous in terms of MLST and methicillin resistance. In this study, all of the 67 commensal S. pseudintermedius populations that were isolated from healthy dogs contained antibiotic resistance genes, indicating the extent and severity of the problem of antimicrobial resistance in staphylococci with zoonotic potential. IMPORTANCE Staphylococcus pseudintermedius is a commensal canine bacterium that can become an opportunistic pathogen and is responsible for most cases of canine pyoderma. It can also cause occasional zoonotic infections. Infections caused by antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus are a global concern. Skin commensal Staphylococcus pseudintermedius is understudied. To provide insight into the commensal strains circulating in healthy dogs, we performed whole-genome sequencing of 67 S. pseudintermedius isolates from different skin sites in 9 healthy dogs. Through the bioinformatic analysis of these genomes, we identified a genomic diversity that is more complete than those afforded by traditional molecular typing strategies. We identified 7 new STs. All of the isolates harbored genes associated with antibiotic resistance, and 39% of the representative genomes were methicillin-resistant. Our data provide critical insights for future skin infection control and antibiotic surveillance within veterinary medicine.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Norma Fàbregas
- Vetgenomics, Edifici EUREKA, PRUAB, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Daniel Pérez
- Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Joaquim Viñes
- Vetgenomics, Edifici EUREKA, PRUAB, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Anna Cuscó
- Vetgenomics, Edifici EUREKA, PRUAB, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Lourdes Migura-García
- Joint Research Unit IRTA-UAB in Animal Health, Animal Health Research Centre (CReSA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
- IRTA, Animal Health Program, Animal Health Research Centre (CReSA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Lluís Ferrer
- Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Olga Francino
- SVGM, Molecular Genetics Veterinary Service, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
50
|
Adaptive Evolution of Rhizobial Symbiosis beyond Horizontal Gene Transfer: From Genome Innovation to Regulation Reconstruction. Genes (Basel) 2023; 14:genes14020274. [PMID: 36833201 PMCID: PMC9957244 DOI: 10.3390/genes14020274] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2022] [Revised: 01/17/2023] [Accepted: 01/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
There are ubiquitous variations in symbiotic performance of different rhizobial strains associated with the same legume host in agricultural practices. This is due to polymorphisms of symbiosis genes and/or largely unexplored variations in integration efficiency of symbiotic function. Here, we reviewed cumulative evidence on integration mechanisms of symbiosis genes. Experimental evolution, in concert with reverse genetic studies based on pangenomics, suggests that gain of the same circuit of key symbiosis genes through horizontal gene transfer is necessary but sometimes insufficient for bacteria to establish an effective symbiosis with legumes. An intact genomic background of the recipient may not support the proper expression or functioning of newly acquired key symbiosis genes. Further adaptive evolution, through genome innovation and reconstruction of regulation networks, may confer the recipient of nascent nodulation and nitrogen fixation ability. Other accessory genes, either co-transferred with key symbiosis genes or stochastically transferred, may provide the recipient with additional adaptability in ever-fluctuating host and soil niches. Successful integrations of these accessory genes with the rewired core network, regarding both symbiotic and edaphic fitness, can optimize symbiotic efficiency in various natural and agricultural ecosystems. This progress also sheds light on the development of elite rhizobial inoculants using synthetic biology procedures.
Collapse
|