scholarly journals Core Genome Multilocus Sequence Typing Scheme for High-Resolution Typing of Enterococcus faecium

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (12) ◽  
pp. 3788-3797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark de Been ◽  
Mette Pinholt ◽  
Janetta Top ◽  
Stefan Bletz ◽  
Alexander Mellmann ◽  
...  

Enterococcus faecium, a common inhabitant of the human gut, has emerged in the last 2 decades as an important multidrug-resistant nosocomial pathogen. Since the start of the 21st century, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) has been used to study the molecular epidemiology ofE. faecium. However, due to the use of a small number of genes, the resolution of MLST is limited. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) now allows for high-resolution tracing of outbreaks, but current WGS-based approaches lack standardization, rendering them less suitable for interlaboratory prospective surveillance. To overcome this limitation, we developed a core genome MLST (cgMLST) scheme forE. faecium. cgMLST transfers genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) diversity into a standardized and portable allele numbering system that is far less computationally intensive than SNP-based analysis of WGS data. TheE. faeciumcgMLST scheme was built using 40 genome sequences that represented the diversity of the species. The scheme consists of 1,423 cgMLST target genes. To test the performance of the scheme, we performed WGS analysis of 103 outbreak isolates from five different hospitals in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany. The cgMLST scheme performed well in distinguishing between epidemiologically related and unrelated isolates, even between those that had the same sequence type (ST), which denotes the higher discriminatory power of this cgMLST scheme over that of conventional MLST. We also show that in terms of resolution, the performance of theE. faeciumcgMLST scheme is equivalent to that of an SNP-based approach. In conclusion, the cgMLST scheme developed in this study facilitates rapid, standardized, and high-resolution tracing ofE. faeciumoutbreaks.

2020 ◽  
pp. JCM.01987-20
Author(s):  
Hauke Tönnies ◽  
Karola Prior ◽  
Dag Harmsen ◽  
Alexander Mellmann

The environmental bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, in particular multidrug resistant clones, is often associated with nosocomial infections and outbreaks. Today, core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) is frequently applied to delineate sporadic cases from nosocomial transmissions. However, until recently, no cgMLST scheme for a standardized typing of P. aeruginosa was available.To establish a novel cgMLST scheme for P. aeruginosa, we initially determined the breadth of the P. aeruginosa population based on MLST data with a Bayesian approach (BAPS). Using genomic data of representative isolates for the whole population and for all 12 serogroups, we extracted target genes and further refined them using a random dataset of 1,000 P. aeruginosa genomes. Subsequently, we investigated reproducibility and discriminatory ability with repeatedly sequenced isolates and isolates from well-defined outbreak scenarios, respectively, and compared clustering applying two recently published cgMLST schemes.BAPS generated seven P. aeruginosa groups. To cover these and all serogroups, 15 reference strains were used to determine genes common in all strains. After refinement with the dataset of 1,000 genomes, the cgMLST scheme consisted of 3,867 target genes, which are representative for the P. aeruginosa population and highly reproducible using biological replicates. We finally evaluated the scheme by reanalyzing two published outbreaks, where the authors used single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) typing. In both cases cgMLST was concordant to the previous SNP results and to the results of the two other cgMLST schemes.In conclusion, the highly-reproducible novel P. aeruginosa cgMLST scheme facilitates outbreak investigations due to the publicly available cgMLST nomenclature.


2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Janowicz ◽  
Fabrizio De Massis ◽  
Massimo Ancora ◽  
Cesare Cammà ◽  
Claudio Patavino ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The use of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) using next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology has become a widely accepted method for microbiology laboratories in the application of molecular typing for outbreak tracing and genomic epidemiology. Several studies demonstrated the usefulness of WGS data analysis through single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) calling from a reference sequence analysis for Brucella melitensis, whereas gene-by-gene comparison through core-genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) has not been explored so far. The current study developed an allele-based cgMLST method and compared its performance to that of the genome-wide SNP approach and the traditional multilocus variable-number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) on a defined sample collection. The data set was comprised of 37 epidemiologically linked animal cases of brucellosis as well as 71 isolates with unknown epidemiological status, composed of human and animal samples collected in Italy. The cgMLST scheme generated in this study contained 2,704 targets of the B. melitensis 16M reference genome. We established the potential criteria necessary for inclusion of an isolate into a brucellosis outbreak cluster to be ≤6 loci in the cgMLST and ≤7 in WGS SNP analysis. Higher phylogenetic distance resolution was achieved with cgMLST and SNP analysis than with MLVA, particularly for strains belonging to the same lineage, thereby allowing diverse and unrelated genotypes to be identified with greater confidence. The application of a cgMLST scheme to the characterization of B. melitensis strains provided insights into the epidemiology of this pathogen, and it is a candidate to be a benchmark tool for outbreak investigations in human and animal brucellosis.


2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Bletz ◽  
Sandra Janezic ◽  
Dag Harmsen ◽  
Maja Rupnik ◽  
Alexander Mellmann

ABSTRACT Clostridium difficile , recently renamed Clostridioides difficile , is the most common cause of antibiotic-associated nosocomial gastrointestinal infections worldwide. To differentiate endogenous infections and transmission events, highly discriminatory subtyping is necessary. Today, methods based on whole-genome sequencing data are increasingly used to subtype bacterial pathogens; however, frequently a standardized methodology and typing nomenclature are missing. Here we report a core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) approach developed for C. difficile . Initially, we determined the breadth of the C. difficile population based on all available MLST sequence types with Bayesian inference (BAPS). The resulting BAPS partitions were used in combination with C. difficile clade information to select representative isolates that were subsequently used to define cgMLST target genes. Finally, we evaluated the novel cgMLST scheme with genomes from 3,025 isolates. BAPS grouping ( n = 6 groups) together with the clade information led to a total of 11 representative isolates that were included for cgMLST definition and resulted in 2,270 cgMLST genes that were present in all isolates. Overall, 2,184 to 2,268 cgMLST targets were detected in the genome sequences of 70 outbreak-associated and reference strains, and on average 99.3% cgMLST targets (1,116 to 2,270 targets) were present in 2,954 genomes downloaded from the NCBI database, underlining the representativeness of the cgMLST scheme. Moreover, reanalyzing different cluster scenarios with cgMLST were concordant to published single nucleotide variant analyses. In conclusion, the novel cgMLST is representative for the whole C. difficile population, is highly discriminatory in outbreak situations, and provides a unique nomenclature facilitating interlaboratory exchange.


2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (7) ◽  
pp. 2086-2097 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison J. Cody ◽  
James E. Bray ◽  
Keith A. Jolley ◽  
Noel D. McCarthy ◽  
Martin C. J. Maiden

ABSTRACTHuman campylobacteriosis, caused byCampylobacter jejuniandC. coli, remains a leading cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in many countries, but the epidemiology of campylobacteriosis outbreaks remains poorly defined, largely due to limitations in the resolution and comparability of isolate characterization methods. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data enable the improvement of sequence-based typing approaches, such as multilocus sequence typing (MLST), by substantially increasing the number of loci examined. A core genome MLST (cgMLST) scheme defines a comprehensive set of those loci present in most members of a bacterial group, balancing very high resolution with comparability across the diversity of the group. Here we propose a set of 1,343 loci as a human campylobacteriosis cgMLST scheme (v1.0), the allelic profiles of which can be assigned to core genome sequence types. The 1,343 loci chosen were a subset of the 1,643 loci identified in the reannotation of the genome sequence ofC. jejuniisolate NCTC 11168, chosen as being present in >95% of draft genomes of 2,472 representative United Kingdom campylobacteriosis isolates, comprising 2,207 (89.3%)C. jejuniisolates and 265 (10.7%)C. coliisolates. Validation of the cgMLST scheme was undertaken with 1,478 further high-quality draft genomes, containing 150 or fewer contiguous sequences, from disease isolate collections: 99.5% of these isolates contained ≥95% of the 1,343 cgMLST loci. In addition to the rapid and effective high-resolution analysis of large numbers of diverse isolates, the cgMLST scheme enabled the efficient identification of very closely related isolates from a well-defined single-source campylobacteriosis outbreak.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1159-1161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonella Santona ◽  
Elisa Taviani ◽  
Massimo Deligios ◽  
Ahmed A. Al-Qahtani ◽  
Mohammed N. Al-Ahdal ◽  
...  

This item has no abstract. Follow the links below to access the full text.


2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernd Neumann ◽  
Karola Prior ◽  
Jennifer K. Bender ◽  
Dag Harmsen ◽  
Ingo Klare ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTAmong enterococci,Enterococcus faecalisoccurs ubiquitously, with the highest incidence of human and animal infections. The high genetic plasticity ofE. faecaliscomplicates both molecular investigations and phylogenetic analyses. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) enables unraveling of epidemiological linkages and putative transmission events between humans, animals, and food. Core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) aims to combine the discriminatory power of classical multilocus sequence typing (MLST) with the extensive genetic data obtained by WGS. By sequencing a representative collection of 146E. faecalisstrains isolated from hospital outbreaks, food, animals, and colonization of healthy human individuals, we established a novel cgMLST scheme with 1,972 gene targets within the Ridom SeqSphere+software. To test theE. faecaliscgMLST scheme and assess the typing performance, different collections comprising environmental and bacteremia isolates, as well as all publicly available genome sequences from the NCBI and SRA databases, were analyzed. In more than 98.6% of the tested genomes, >95% good cgMLST target genes were detected (mean, 99.2% target genes). Our genotyping results not only corroborate the known epidemiological background of the isolates but exceed previous typing resolution. In conclusion, we have created a powerful typing scheme, hence providing an international standardized nomenclature that is suitable for surveillance approaches in various sectors, linking public health, veterinary public health, and food safety in a true One Health fashion.


mBio ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
François Lebreton ◽  
Willem van Schaik ◽  
Abigail Manson McGuire ◽  
Paul Godfrey ◽  
Allison Griggs ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTEnterococcus faecium, natively a gut commensal organism, emerged as a leading cause of multidrug-resistant hospital-acquired infection in the 1980s. As the living record of its adaptation to changes in habitat, we sequenced the genomes of 51 strains, isolated from various ecological environments, to understand howE. faeciumemerged as a leading hospital pathogen. Because of the scale and diversity of the sampled strains, we were able to resolve the lineage responsible for epidemic, multidrug-resistant human infection from other strains and to measure the evolutionary distances between groups. We found that the epidemic hospital-adapted lineage is rapidly evolving and emerged approximately 75 years ago, concomitant with the introduction of antibiotics, from a population that included the majority of animal strains, and not from human commensal lines. We further found that the lineage that included most strains of animal origin diverged from the main human commensal line approximately 3,000 years ago, a time that corresponds to increasing urbanization of humans, development of hygienic practices, and domestication of animals, which we speculate contributed to their ecological separation. Each bifurcation was accompanied by the acquisition of new metabolic capabilities and colonization traits on mobile elements and the loss of function and genome remodeling associated with mobile element insertion and movement. As a result, diversity within the species, in terms of sequence divergence as well as gene content, spans a range usually associated with speciation.IMPORTANCEEnterococci, in particular vancomycin-resistantEnterococcus faecium, recently emerged as a leading cause of hospital-acquired infection worldwide. In this study, we examined genome sequence data to understand the bacterial adaptations that accompanied this transformation from microbes that existed for eons as members of host microbiota. We observed changes in the genomes that paralleled changes in human behavior. An initial bifurcation within the species appears to have occurred at a time that corresponds to the urbanization of humans and domestication of animals, and a more recent bifurcation parallels the introduction of antibiotics in medicine and agriculture. In response to the opportunity to fill niches associated with changes in human activity, a rapidly evolving lineage emerged, a lineage responsible for the vast majority of multidrug-resistantE. faeciuminfections.


2017 ◽  
Vol 83 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yohsuke Ogawa ◽  
Kazumasa Shiraiwa ◽  
Yoshitoshi Ogura ◽  
Tadasuke Ooka ◽  
Sayaka Nishikawa ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTErysipelothrix rhusiopathiaecauses swine erysipelas, an important infectious disease in the swine industry. In Japan, the incidence of acute swine erysipelas due toE. rhusiopathiaeserovar 1a has recently increased markedly. To study the genetic relatedness of the strains from the recent cases, we analyzed 34E. rhusiopathiaeserovar 1a swine isolates collected between 1990 and 2011 and further investigated the possible association of the live Koganei 65-0.15 vaccine strain (serovar 1a) with the increase in cases. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis revealed no marked variation among the isolates; however, sequencing analysis of a hypervariable region in the surface-protective antigen A gene (spaA) revealed that the strains isolated after 2007 exhibited the samespaAgenotype and could be differentiated from older strains. Phylogenetic analysis based on genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) revealed that the Japanese strains examined were closely related, showing a relatively small number of SNPs among them. The strains were classified into four major lineages, with Koganei 65-0.15 (lineage III) being phylogenetically separated from the other three lineages. The strains isolated after 2007 and the two older strains constituted one major lineage (lineage IV) with a specificspaAgenotype (M203/I257-SpaA), while the recent isolates were further divided into two geographic groups. The remaining older isolates belonged to either lineage I, with the I203/L257-SpaA type, or lineage II, with the I203/I257-SpaA type. These results indicate that the recent increased incidence of acute swine erysipelas in Japan is associated with two sublineages of lineage IV, which have independently evolved in two different geographic regions.IMPORTANCEUsing large-scale whole-genome sequence data fromErysipelothrix rhusiopathiaeisolates from a wide range of hosts and geographic origins, a recent study clarified the existence of three distinct clades (clades 1, 2, and 3) that are found across multiple continents and host species, representing both livestock and wildlife, and an “intermediate” clade between clade 2 and the dominant clade 3 within the species. In this study, we found that theE. rhusiopathiaeJapanese strains examined exhibited remarkably low levels of genetic diversity and confirmed that all of the Japanese and Chinese swine isolates examined in this study belong to clonal lineages within the intermediate clade. We report thatspaAgenotyping ofE. rhusiopathiaestrains is a practical alternative to whole-genome sequencing analysis of theE. rhusiopathiaeisolates from eastern Asian countries.


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