Preliminary comparative genomics revealed pathogenic potential and international spread of Staphylococcus argenteus

BMC Genomics

Research Article

Chunlei Shi¹  Dao-Feng Zhang¹  Yan Cui¹  Jing Zhang¹  Xianming Shi²  George C. Paoli³  Xiao-Yang Zhi⁴ 

[1] MOST-USDA Joint Research Center for Food Safety, School of Agriculture and Biology & State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240, Shanghai, China;MOST-USDA Joint Research Center for Food Safety, School of Agriculture and Biology & State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240, Shanghai, China;Present address: No. 800 Dongchuan RD. Minhang District, 200240, Shanghai, China;USDA-MOST Joint Research Center for Food Safety & Molecular Characterization of Foodborne Pathogens Research Unit, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Eastern Regional Research Center, 19038, Wyndmoor, PA, USA;Yunnan Institute of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Yunnan University, 650091, Kunming, China;

关键词: Staphylococcus aureus;    Staphylococcus argenteus;    Staphylococcus schweitzeri;    Comparative genomics;    Virulence gene;    Capsular polysaccharides;    Agr;    Biogeographical structure;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12864-017-4149-9

 received in 2017-06-10, accepted in 2017-10-02,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundStaphylococcus argenteus and S. schweitzeri, were recently proposed as novel species within S. aureus complex (SAC). S. argenteus has been reported in many countries and can threaten human health. S. schweitzeri has not been associated with human infections, but has been isolated from non-human primates. Questions regarding the evolution of pathogenicity of these two species will remain elusive until an exploratory evolutionary framework is established.ResultsWe present genomic comparison analysis among members of SAC based on a pan-genome definition, which included 15 S. argenteus genomes (five newly sequenced), six S. schweitzeri genomes and 30 divergent S. aureus genomes. The three species had divergent core genomes and rare interspecific recombination was observed among the core genes. However, some subtypes of staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) elements and prophages were present in different species. Of 111 tested virulence genes of S. aureus, 85 and 86 homologous genes were found in S. argenteus and S. schweitzeri, respectively. There was no difference in virulence gene content among the three species, but the sequence of most core virulence genes was divergent. Analysis of the agr locus and the genes in the capsular polysaccharides biosynthetic operon revealed that they both diverged before the speciation of SAC members. Furthermore, the widespread geographic distribution of S. argenteus, sequence type 2250, showed ambiguous biogeographical structure among geographically isolated populations, demonstrating an international spread of this pathogen.ConclusionsS. argenteus has spread among several countries, and invasive infections and persistent carriage may be not limited to currently reported regions. S. argenteus probably had undergone a recent host adaption and can cause human infections with a similar pathogenic potential.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017