scholarly journals Epidemiological information is key when interpreting whole genome sequence data – lessons learned from a large Legionella pneumophila outbreak in Warstein, Germany, 2013

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (45) ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Petzold ◽  
Karola Prior ◽  
Jacob Moran-Gilad ◽  
Dag Harmsen ◽  
Christian Lück

Introduction Whole genome sequencing (WGS) is increasingly used in Legionnaires’ disease (LD) outbreak investigations, owing to its higher resolution than sequence-based typing, the gold standard typing method for Legionella pneumophila, in the analysis of endemic strains. Recently, a gene-by-gene typing approach based on 1,521 core genes called core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) was described that enables a robust and standardised typing of L. pneumophila. Methods: We applied this cgMLST scheme to isolates obtained during the largest outbreak of LD reported so far in Germany. In this outbreak, the epidemic clone ST345 had been isolated from patients and four different environmental sources. In total 42 clinical and environmental isolates were retrospectively typed. Results: Epidemiologically unrelated ST345 isolates were clearly distinguishable from the epidemic clone. Remarkably, epidemic isolates split up into two distinct clusters, ST345-A and ST345-B, each respectively containing a mix of clinical and epidemiologically-related environmental samples. Discussion/conclusion: The outbreak was therefore likely caused by both variants of the single sequence type, which pre-existed in the environmental reservoirs. The two clusters differed by 40 alleles located in two neighbouring genomic regions of ca 42 and 26 kb. Additional analysis supported horizontal gene transfer of the two regions as responsible for the difference between the variants. Both regions comprise virulence genes and have previously been reported to be involved in recombination events. This corroborates the notion that genomic outbreak investigations should always take epidemiological information into consideration when making inferences. Overall, cgMLST proved helpful in disentangling the complex genomic epidemiology of the outbreak.

2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (8) ◽  
pp. 2135-2148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophia David ◽  
Massimo Mentasti ◽  
Rediat Tewolde ◽  
Martin Aslett ◽  
Simon R. Harris ◽  
...  

Sequence-based typing (SBT), analogous to multilocus sequence typing (MLST), is the current “gold standard” typing method for investigation of legionellosis outbreaks caused byLegionella pneumophila. However, as common sequence types (STs) cause many infections, some investigations remain unresolved. In this study, various whole-genome sequencing (WGS)-based methods were evaluated according to published guidelines, including (i) a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based method, (ii) extended MLST using different numbers of genes, (iii) determination of gene presence or absence, and (iv) a kmer-based method.L. pneumophilaserogroup 1 isolates (n= 106) from the standard “typing panel,” previously used by the European Society for Clinical Microbiology Study Group on Legionella Infections (ESGLI), were tested together with another 229 isolates. Over 98% of isolates were considered typeable using the SNP- and kmer-based methods. Percentages of isolates with complete extended MLST profiles ranged from 99.1% (50 genes) to 86.8% (1,455 genes), while only 41.5% produced a full profile with the gene presence/absence scheme. Replicates demonstrated that all methods offer 100% reproducibility. Indices of discrimination range from 0.972 (ribosomal MLST) to 0.999 (SNP based), and all values were higher than that achieved with SBT (0.940). Epidemiological concordance is generally inversely related to discriminatory power. We propose that an extended MLST scheme with ∼50 genes provides optimal epidemiological concordance while substantially improving the discrimination offered by SBT and can be used as part of a hierarchical typing scheme that should maintain backwards compatibility and increase discrimination where necessary. This analysis will be useful for the ESGLI to design a scheme that has the potential to become the new gold standard typing method forL. pneumophila.


2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (5) ◽  
pp. 1388-1390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna E. Sheppard ◽  
Alison Vaughan ◽  
Nicola Jones ◽  
Paul Turner ◽  
Claudia Turner ◽  
...  

Group B streptococcus (GBS) capsular serotypes are major determinants of virulence and affect potential vaccine coverage. Here we report a whole-genome-sequencing-based method for GBS serotype assignment. This method shows strong agreement (kappa of 0.92) with conventional methods and increased serotype assignment (100%) to all 10 capsular types.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Sobkowiak ◽  
Kamila Romanowski ◽  
Inna Sekirov ◽  
Jennifer L Gardy ◽  
James Johnston

Pathogen genomic epidemiology is now routinely used worldwide to interrogate infectious disease dynamics. Multiple computational tools that reconstruct transmission networks by coupling genomic data with epidemiological modelling have been developed. The resulting inferences are often used to inform outbreak investigations, yet to date, the performance of these transmission reconstruction tools has not been compared specifically for tuberculosis, a disease process with complex epidemiology that includes variable latency periods and within-host heterogeneity. Here, we carried out a systematic comparison of seven publicly available transmission reconstruction tools, evaluating their accuracy in predicting transmission events in both simulated and real-world Mycobacterium tuberculosis outbreaks. No tool was able to fully resolve transmission networks, though both the single-tree and multi-tree input implementations of TransPhylo identified the most epidemiologically supported transmission events and the fewest false positive links. We observed a high degree of variability in the transmission networks inferred by each approach. Our findings may inform the choice of tools in future tuberculosis transmission analyses and underscore the need for caution when interpreting transmission networks produced using probabilistic approaches.


Author(s):  
Amnon Koren ◽  
Dashiell J Massey ◽  
Alexa N Bracci

Abstract Motivation Genomic DNA replicates according to a reproducible spatiotemporal program, with some loci replicating early in S phase while others replicate late. Despite being a central cellular process, DNA replication timing studies have been limited in scale due to technical challenges. Results We present TIGER (Timing Inferred from Genome Replication), a computational approach for extracting DNA replication timing information from whole genome sequence data obtained from proliferating cell samples. The presence of replicating cells in a biological specimen leads to non-uniform representation of genomic DNA that depends on the timing of replication of different genomic loci. Replication dynamics can hence be observed in genome sequence data by analyzing DNA copy number along chromosomes while accounting for other sources of sequence coverage variation. TIGER is applicable to any species with a contiguous genome assembly and rivals the quality of experimental measurements of DNA replication timing. It provides a straightforward approach for measuring replication timing and can readily be applied at scale. Availability and Implementation TIGER is available at https://github.com/TheKorenLab/TIGER. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online


Data in Brief ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 106416
Author(s):  
Asset Daniyarov ◽  
Askhat Molkenov ◽  
Saule Rakhimova ◽  
Ainur Akhmetova ◽  
Zhannur Nurkina ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynsey K. Whitacre ◽  
Jesse L. Hoff ◽  
Robert D. Schnabel ◽  
Sara Albarella ◽  
Francesca Ciotola ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Viola Kurm ◽  
Ilse Houwers ◽  
Claudia E. Coipan ◽  
Peter Bonants ◽  
Cees Waalwijk ◽  
...  

AbstractIdentification and classification of members of the Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC) is challenging due to the heterogeneity of this complex. Whole genome sequence data of 225 strains were used to classify strains based on average nucleotide identity (ANI) and multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA). Based on the ANI score (>95%), 191 out of 192(99.5%) RSSC strains could be grouped into the three species R. solanacearum, R. pseudosolanacearum, and R. syzygii, and into the four phylotypes within the RSSC (I,II, III, and IV). R. solanacearum phylotype II could be split in two groups (IIA and IIB), from which IIB clustered in three subgroups (IIBa, IIBb and IIBc). This division by ANI was in accordance with MLSA. The IIB subgroups found by ANI and MLSA also differed in the number of SNPs in the primer and probe sites of various assays. An in-silico analysis of eight TaqMan and 11 conventional PCR assays was performed using the whole genome sequences. Based on this analysis several cases of potential false positives or false negatives can be expected upon the use of these assays for their intended target organisms. Two TaqMan assays and two PCR assays targeting the 16S rDNA sequence should be able to detect all phylotypes of the RSSC. We conclude that the increasing availability of whole genome sequences is not only useful for classification of strains, but also shows potential for selection and evaluation of clade specific nucleic acid-based amplification methods within the RSSC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 25-25
Author(s):  
Muhammad Yasir Nawaz ◽  
Rodrigo Pelicioni Savegnago ◽  
Cedric Gondro

Abstract In this study, we detected genome wide footprints of selection in Hanwoo and Angus beef cattle using different allele frequency and haplotype-based methods based on imputed whole genome sequence data. Our dataset included 13,202 Angus and 10,437 Hanwoo animals with 10,057,633 and 13,241,550 imputed SNPs, respectively. A subset of data with 6,873,624 common SNPs between the two populations was used to estimate signatures of selection parameters, both within (runs of homozygosity and extended haplotype homozygosity) and between (allele fixation index, extended haplotype homozygosity) the breeds in order to infer evidence of selection. We observed that correlations between various measures of selection ranged between 0.01 to 0.42. Assuming these parameters were complementary to each other, we combined them into a composite selection signal to identify regions under selection in both beef breeds. The composite signal was based on the average of fractional ranks of individual selection measures for every SNP. We identified some selection signatures that were common between the breeds while others were independent. We also observed that more genomic regions were selected in Angus as compared to Hanwoo. Candidate genes within significant genomic regions may help explain mechanisms of adaptation, domestication history and loci for important traits in Angus and Hanwoo cattle. In the future, we will use the top SNPs under selection for genomic prediction of carcass traits in both breeds.


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