Investigations into genome diversity of Haemophilus influenzae using whole genome sequencing of clinical isolates and laboratory transformants

BMC Microbiology

Research Article

Julian Parkhill¹  Stephen D Bentley¹  E Richard Moxon²  Peter M Power²  Derek W Hood³ 

[1] Pathogen Genomics, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, CB10 1SA, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK;University of Oxford Department of Paediatrics, Medical Sciences Division, John Radcliffe Hospital, OX3 9DU, Headington, Oxford, UK;University of Oxford Department of Paediatrics, Medical Sciences Division, John Radcliffe Hospital, OX3 9DU, Headington, Oxford, UK;Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, OX3 9DU, Headington, Oxford, UK;

关键词: Haemophilus influenzae;    Genome sequence;    Population structure;    Transformation;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2180-12-273

 received in 2012-06-25, accepted in 2012-10-17,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundHaemophilus influenzae is an important human commensal pathogen associated with significant levels of disease. High-throughput DNA sequencing was used to investigate differences in genome content within this species.ResultsGenomic DNA sequence was obtained from 85 strains of H. influenzae and from other related species, selected based on geographical site of isolation, disease association and documented genotypic and phenotypic differences. When compared by Mauve alignment these indicated groupings of H. influenzae that were consistent with previously published analyses; c apsule expressing strains fell into two distinct groups and those of serotype b (Hib) were found in two closely positioned lineages. For 18 Hib strains representing both lineages we found many discrete regions (up to 40% of the total genome) displaying sequence variation when compared to a common reference strain. Evidence that this naturally occurring pattern of inter-strain variation in H. influenzae can be mediated by transformation was obtained through sequencing DNA obtained from a pool of 200 independent transformants of a recipient (strain Rd) using donor DNA from a heterologous Hib strain (Eagan).ConclusionMuch of the inter-strain variation in genome sequence in H. influenzae is likely the result of inter-strain exchanges of DNA, most plausibly through transformation.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Power et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.