scholarly journals Whole Genome Sequencing and Comparative Genome Analyses of Chlamydia abortus Strains of Avian Origin Suggests That Chlamydia abortus Species Should Be Expanded to Include Avian and Mammalian Subgroups

Pathogens ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1405
Author(s):  
Kinga Zaręba-Marchewka ◽  
Monika Szymańska-Czerwińska ◽  
Morag Livingstone ◽  
David Longbottom ◽  
Krzysztof Niemczuk

A variety of Chlamydia species belonging to the Chlamydiaceae family have been reported in birds. Until recently, C. psittaci was considered to be the most common avian species, although found in both birds and mammals, while C. abortus has only been found in mammals. Recently, a new group of avian C. abortus strains with worldwide distribution in various wild bird families has been described. In this study, whole genome sequencing (WGS) of three of these strains (15-70d24, 15-49d3 and 15-58d44, representing genotypes G1, G2 and 1V, respectively) that were isolated from wild birds were analysed. Genome assemblies based on both short-read Illumina and long-read Nanopore data indicate that these avian C. abortus strains show features characteristic of both C. abortus and C. psittaci species, although phylogenetic analyses demonstrate a closer relationship with classical C. abortus strains. Currently, species classification established by the ICSP Subcommittee on the taxonomy of Chlamydiae, determines that these avian C. abortus strains 15-70d24, 15-49d3 and 15-58d44 should be classified as C. abortus. However, the authors of this study conclude that the current taxonomic definition of C. abortus is outdated and should be amended to include two subgroups, mammalian and avian, the latter of which would include all isolates so far referred to as atypical C. psittaci or C. psittaci/C. abortus intermediates.

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 191-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeshi Mizuguchi ◽  
Tomoko Toyota ◽  
Hiroaki Adachi ◽  
Noriko Miyake ◽  
Naomichi Matsumoto ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. e0006566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth M. Batty ◽  
Suwittra Chaemchuen ◽  
Stuart Blacksell ◽  
Allen L. Richards ◽  
Daniel Paris ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 95 (1130) ◽  
pp. 686.3-686
Author(s):  
Mark Caulfield

The UK 100,000 Genomes Project has focussed on transforming genomic medicine in the National Health Service using whole genome sequencing in rare disease, cancer and infection. Genomics England partnering with the NHS established 13 Genomic Medicine Centres, the NHS whole genome sequencing centre and the Genomics England Clinical Interpretation Partnership (3337 researchers from 24 countries). We sequenced the 100,000th genome on the 5th December 2019 and completed an initial analysis for participants in July 2019. Alongside these genomes we have assembled a longitudinal life course dataset for research and diagnosis including 2.6 billion clinical data points for the 3000 plus researchers to work on to drive up the value of the genomes for direct healthcare. In parallel we have partnered the NHS to establish one of the world’s most advanced Genomic Medicine Service where we re-evaluated 300,000 genomic tests and upgraded 25% of tests to newer technologies with an annual review. The Department of Health have announced the ambition to undertake 5 million genome analyses over the next 5 years focused on new areas tractable to health gain.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 1775
Author(s):  
Andrey Shelenkov ◽  
Lyudmila Petrova ◽  
Valeria Fomina ◽  
Mikhail Zamyatin ◽  
Yulia Mikhaylova ◽  
...  

Proteus mirabilis is a component of the normal intestinal microflora of humans and animals, but can cause urinary tract infections and even sepsis in hospital settings. In recent years, the number of multidrug-resistant P. mirabilis isolates, including the ones producing extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs), is increasing worldwide. However, the number of investigations dedicated to this species, especially, whole-genome sequencing, is much lower in comparison to the members of the ESKAPE pathogens group. This study presents a detailed analysis of clinical multidrug-resistant ESBL-producing P. mirabilis isolate using short- and long-read whole-genome sequencing, which allowed us to reveal possible horizontal gene transfer between Klebsiella pneumoniae and P. mirabilis plasmids and to locate the CRISPR-Cas system in the genome together with its probable phage targets, as well as multiple virulence genes. We believe that the data presented will contribute to the understanding of antibiotic resistance acquisition and virulence mechanisms for this important pathogen.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 855 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Irrgang ◽  
Natalie Pauly ◽  
Bernd-Alois Tenhagen ◽  
Mirjam Grobbel ◽  
Annemarie Kaesbohrer ◽  
...  

Resistance to carbapenems is a severe threat to human health. These last resort antimicrobials are indispensable for the treatment of severe human infections with multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. In accordance with their increasing medical impact, carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) might be disseminated from colonized humans to non-human reservoirs (i.e., environment, animals, food). In Germany, the occurrence of CPE in livestock and food has been systematically monitored since 2016. In the 2019 monitoring, an OXA-48-producing E. coli (19-AB01443) was recovered from a fecal sample of a fattening pig. Phenotypic resistance was confirmed by broth microdilution and further characterized by PFGE, conjugation, and combined short-/long-read whole genome sequencing. This is the first detection of this resistance determinant in samples from German meat production. Molecular characterization and whole-genome sequencing revealed that the blaOXA-48 gene was located on a common pOXA-48 plasmid-prototype. This plasmid-type seems to be globally distributed among various bacterial species, but it was frequently associated with clinical Klebsiella spp. isolates. Currently, the route of introduction of this plasmid/isolate combination into the German pig production is unknown. We speculate that due to its strong correlation with human isolates a transmission from humans to livestock has occurred.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (42) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Wesley Long ◽  
Sarah E. Linson ◽  
Matthew Ojeda Saavedra ◽  
Concepcion Cantu ◽  
James J. Davis ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT In a study of 1,777 Klebsiella strains, we discovered KPN1705, which was distinct from all recognized Klebsiella spp. We closed the genome of strain KPN1705 using a hybrid of Illumina short-read and Oxford Nanopore long-read technologies. For this novel species, we propose the name Klebsiella quasivariicola sp. nov.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeroen Smits ◽  
Suzanne E. de Bruijn ◽  
Cornelis P. Lanting ◽  
Jaap Oostrik ◽  
Luke O’Gorman ◽  
...  

Abstract Pathogenic variants in SLC26A4 have been associated with autosomal recessive hearing loss (arHL) and a unilateral or bilateral enlarged vestibular aqueduct (EVA). SLC26A4 is the second most frequently mutated gene in arHL. Despite the strong genotype-phenotype correlation, a significant part of SLC26A4 cases remains genetically unresolved. In this study, we investigated a cohort of 28 Dutch index cases diagnosed with HL in combination with an EVA but without (M0) or with a single (M1) pathogenic variant in SLC26A4. To explore the missing heritability, short- and long-read whole genome sequencing and optical genome mapping were performed. We found a previously described EVA-associated haplotype (Caucasian EVA (CEVA)) to be significantly enriched in our M1 patient cohort. The haplotype was also present in two M0 cases. Despite extensive genetic analyses, we were not able to prioritize any of the variants present within the haplotype as the likely pathogenic defect, and therefore additional analyses addressing the defect(s) at the RNA, protein, or epigenetic level are required. Whole genome sequencing also revealed splice-altering SLC26A4 variants in two M1 cases, which are now genetically explained, but no deep-intronic or copy number variants. With these findings, we have provided important insights that will pave the way for elucidating the missing heritability in M0 and M1 SLC26A4 cases.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark T. W. Ebbert ◽  
Stefan Farrugia ◽  
Jonathon Sens ◽  
Karen Jansen-West ◽  
Tania F. Gendron ◽  
...  

AbstractBackground: Many neurodegenerative diseases are caused by nucleotide repeat expansions, but most expansions, like the C9orf72 ‘GGGGCC’ (G4C2) repeat that causes approximately 5-7% of all amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) cases, are too long to sequence using short-read sequencing technologies. It is unclear whether long-read sequencing technologies can traverse these long, challenging repeat expansions. Here, we demonstrate that two long-read sequencing technologies, Pacific Biosciences’ (PacBio) and Oxford Nanopore Technologies’ (ONT), can sequence through disease-causing repeats cloned into plasmids, including the FTD/ALS-causing G4C2 repeat expansion. We also report the first long-read sequencing data characterizing the C9orf72 G4C2 repeat expansion at the nucleotide level in two symptomatic expansion carriers using PacBio whole-genome sequencing and a no-amplification (No-Amp) targeted approach based on CRISPR/Cas9.Results: Both the PacBio and ONT platforms successfully sequenced through the repeat expansions in plasmids. Throughput on the MinlON was a challenge for whole-genome sequencing; we were unable to attain reads covering the human C9orf72 repeat expansion using 15 flow cells. We obtained 8x coverage across the C9orf72 locus using the PacBio Sequel, accurately reporting the unexpanded allele at eight repeats, and reading through the entire expansion with 1324 repeats (7941 nucleotides). Using the No-Amp targeted approach, we attained >800x coverage and were able to identify the unexpanded allele, closely estimate expansion size, and assess nucleotide content in a single experiment. We estimate the individual’s repeat region was >99% G4C2 content, though we cannot rule out small interruptions.Conclusions: Our findings indicate that long-read sequencing is well suited to characterizing known repeat expansions, and for discovering new disease-causing, disease-modifying, or risk-modifying repeat expansions that have gone undetected with conventional short-read sequencing. The PacBio No-Amp targeted approach may have future potential in clinical and genetic counseling environments. Larger and deeper long-read sequencing studies in C9orf72 expansion carriers will be important to determine heterogeneity and whether the repeats are interrupted by non-G4C2 content, potentially mitigating or modifying disease course or age of onset, as interruptions are known to do in other repeat-expansion disorders. These results have broad implications across all diseases where the genetic etiology remains unclear.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document