An evolutionary analysis of genome expansion and pathogenicity in Escherichia coli

BMC Genomics

Lars Snipen⁴  Camilla Sekse³  Ola B Brynildsrud¹  Jon Bohlin² 

[1] Epi-Centre, Department of Food-Safety and Infection Biology, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ullevålsveien 72, P.O. Box 8146 Dep, Oslo NO-0033, Norway;Division of Epidemiology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Marcus Thranes gate 6, P.O. Box 4404, Oslo 0403, Norway;Norwegian Veterinary Institute, P.O.Box 750 Sentrum, N-0106 Oslo, Norway;Department of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway

Others  :  1128474
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2164-15-882

 received in 2014-03-24, accepted in 2014-09-29,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

There are several studies describing loss of genes through reductive evolution in microbes, but how selective forces are associated with genome expansion due to horizontal gene transfer (HGT) has not received similar attention. The aim of this study was therefore to examine how selective pressures influence genome expansion in 53 fully sequenced and assembled Escherichia coli strains. We also explored potential connections between genome expansion and the attainment of virulence factors. This was performed using estimations of several genomic parameters such as AT content, genomic drift (measured using relative entropy), genome size and estimated HGT size, which were subsequently compared to analogous parameters computed from the core genome consisting of 1729 genes common to the 53 E. coli strains. Moreover, we analyzed how selective pressures (quantified using relative entropy and dN/dS), acting on the E. coli core genome, influenced lineage and phylogroup formation.

Results

Hierarchical clustering of dS and dN estimations from the E. coli core genome resulted in phylogenetic trees with topologies in agreement with known E. coli taxonomy and phylogroups. High values of dS, compared to dN, indicate that the E. coli core genome has been subjected to substantial purifying selection over time; significantly more than the non-core part of the genome (p<0.001). This is further supported by a linear association between strain-wise dS and dN values (β = 26.94 ± 0.44, R²~0.98, p<0.001). The non-core part of the genome was also significantly more AT-rich (p<0.001) than the core genome and E. coli genome size correlated with estimated HGT size (p<0.001). In addition, genome size (p<0.001), AT content (p<0.001) as well as estimated HGT size (p<0.005) were all associated with the presence of virulence factors, suggesting that pathogenicity traits in E. coli are largely attained through HGT. No associations were found between selective pressures operating on the E. coli core genome, as estimated using relative entropy, and genome size (p~0.98).

Conclusions

On a larger time frame, genome expansion in E. coli, which is significantly associated with the acquisition of virulence factors, appears to be independent of selective forces operating on the core genome.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Bohlin et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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