Carriage prevalence and genomic epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus among Native American children and adults in the Southwestern USA

Average nucleotide identity-based Staphylococcus aureus strain grouping allows identification of strain-specific genes in the pangenome

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.

Respiratory carriage of hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae by indigenous populations of Malaysia

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a Gram-negative Enterobacteriaceae that is classified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a Priority One ESKAPE pathogen. South and Southeast Asian countries are regions where both healthcare associated infections (HAI) and community acquired infections (CAI) due to extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing and carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae (CRKp) are of concern. As K. pneumoniae can also exist as a harmless commensal, the spread of resistance genotypes requires epidemiological vigilance. However there has been no significant study of carriage isolates from healthy individuals, particularly in Southeast Asia, and specially Malaysia. Here we describe the genomic analysis of respiratory isolates of K. pneumoniae obtained from Orang Ulu and Orang Asli communities in Malaysian Borneo and Peninsular Malaysia respectively. The majority of isolates were K. pneumoniae species complex (KpSC) 1 K. pneumoniae (n = 53, 89.8%). Four Klebsiella variicola subsp. variicola (KpSC3) and two Klebsiella quasipneumoniae subsp. similipneumoniae (KpSC4) were also found. It was discovered that 30.2% (n = 16) of the KpSC1 isolates were ST23, 11.3% (n = 6) were of ST65, 7.5% (n = 4) were ST13, and 13.2% (n = 7) were ST86. Only eight of the KpSC1 isolates encoded ESBL, but importantly not carbapenemase. Thirteen of the KpSC1 isolates carried yersiniabactin, colibactin and aerobactin, all of which harboured the rmpADC locus and are therefore characterised as hypervirulent. Co-carriage of multiple strains was minimal. In conclusion, most isolates were KpSC1, ST23, one of the most common sequence types and previously found in cases of K. pneumoniae infection. A proportion were hypervirulent (hvKp) however antibiotic resistance was low.

Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 3 population structure in the era of conjugate vaccines, 2001-2018

Background. Despite use of highly effective conjugate vaccines, invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality and disproportionately affects Indigenous populations. Although included in the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13), which was introduced in 2010, serotype 3 continues to cause disease among Indigenous communities in the Southwest USA. In the Navajo Nation, serotype 3 IPD incidence increased among adults (3.8/100 000 in 2001-2009 and 6.2/100 000 in 2011-2019); in children the disease persisted although the rates dropped from 5.8/100 000 to 2.3/100 000.Methods. We analysed the genomic epidemiology of serotype 3 isolates collected from 129 adults and 63 children with pneumococcal carriage (n=61) or IPD (n=131) from 2001 to 2018 of the Navajo Nation. Using whole-genome sequencing data, we determined clade membership and assessed changes in serotype 3 population structure over time.Results. The serotype 3 population structure was characterized by three dominant subpopulations: clade II (n=90, 46.9 %) and clade Iα (n=59, 30.7 %), which fall into Clonal Complex (CC) 180, and a non-CC180 clade (n=43, 22.4 %). The proportion of clade II-associated IPD cases increased significantly from 2001 to 2010 to 2011-2018 among adults (23.1-71.8 %; P<0.001) but not in children (27.3-33.3 %; P=0.84). Over the same period, the proportion of clade II-associated carriage increased; this was statistically significant among children (23.3-52.6 %; P=0.04) but not adults (0-50.0 %, P=0.08).Conclusions. In this setting with persistent serotype 3 IPD and carriage, clade II has increased since 2010. Genomic changes may be contributing to the observed trends in serotype 3 carriage and disease over time.

Average Nucleotide Identity based Staphylococcus aureus strain grouping allows identification of strain-specific genes in the pangenome

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.

Draft genome sequence of a highly proteolytic Staphylococcus aureus USA300 isolate from human urine

The secreted proteases of Staphylococcus aureus have been shown to be critical during infection. Here, we present the draft genome sequence of S. aureus TGH337, a hyper-proteolytic USA300 strain isolated from human urine.

Membrane-Targeting Neolignan-Antimicrobial Peptide Mimic Conjugates to Combat Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Infections

Infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) continue to endanger public health. Here, we report the synthesis of neolignan isomagnolone (I) and its isomer II, and the preparation of a series of novel neolignan-antimicrobial peptide (AMP) mimic conjugates. Notably, conjugates III5 and III15 exhibit potent anti-MRSA activity in vitro and in vivo, comparable to that of vancomycin, a current effective treatment for MRSA. Moreover, III5 and III15 display not only fast-killing kinetics and low resistance frequency but also low toxicity as well as effects on bacterial biofilms. Mechanism studies reveal that III5 and III15 exhibit rapid bactericidal effects through binding to the phosphatidylglycerol (PG) and cardiolipin (CL) of the bacterial membrane, thereby disrupting the cell membranes and allowing increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) as well as protein and DNA leakage. The results indicate that these neolignan-AMP mimic conjugates could be promising antimicrobial candidates for combating MRSA infections.