Directly Sequenced Genomes of Contemporary Strains of Syphilis Reveal Recombination-Driven Diversity in Genes Encoding Predicted Surface-Exposed Antigens.
- Grillová L Department of Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia.
- Oppelt J CEITEC-Central European Institute of Technology, Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia.
- Mikalová L Department of Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia.
- Nováková M Department of Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia.
- Giacani L Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.
- Niesnerová A Department of Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia.
- Noda AA Department of Mycology-Bacteriology, Instituto de Medicina Tropical "Pedro Kourí", Havana, Cuba.
- Mechaly AE Plateforme de Cristallographie, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
- Pospíšilová P Department of Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia.
- Čejková D Department of Immunology, Veterinary Research Institute, Brno, Czechia.
- Grange PA Faculté de Médecine, Laboratoire de Dermatologie-CNR IST Bactériennes, Institut Cochin U1016, Université Sorbonne Paris Descartes, Paris, France.
- Dupin N Faculté de Médecine, Laboratoire de Dermatologie-CNR IST Bactériennes, Institut Cochin U1016, Université Sorbonne Paris Descartes, Paris, France.
- Strnadel R Department of Dermatovenerology, University Hospital Brno, Brno, Czechia.
- Chen M Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Alfred Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
- Denham I Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Alfred Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
- Arora N Zurich Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Picardeau M Biology of Spirochetes Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
- Weston C GeneticPrime Dx, Inc., La Jolla, CA, United States.
- Forsyth RA GeneticPrime Dx, Inc., La Jolla, CA, United States.
- Šmajs D Department of Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia.
- 2019-08-17
Published in:
- Frontiers in microbiology. - 2019
Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum
culture-independent bacterial enrichment
direct whole genome sequencing
recombination-driven diversity
syphilis
English
Syphilis, caused by Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum (TPA), remains an important public health problem with an increasing worldwide prevalence. Despite recent advances in in vitro cultivation, genetic variability of this pathogen during infection is poorly understood. Here, we present contemporary and geographically diverse complete treponemal genome sequences isolated directly from patients using a methyl-directed enrichment prior to sequencing. This approach reveals that approximately 50% of the genetic diversity found in TPA is driven by inter- and/or intra-strain recombination events, particularly in strains belonging to one of the defined genetic groups of syphilis treponemes: Nichols-like strains. Recombinant loci were found to encode putative outer-membrane proteins and the recombination variability was almost exclusively found in regions predicted to be at the host-pathogen interface. Genetic recombination has been considered to be a rare event in treponemes, yet our study unexpectedly showed that it occurs at a significant level and may have important impacts in the biology of this pathogen, especially as these events occur primarily in the outer membrane proteins. This study reveals the existence of strains with different repertoires of surface-exposed antigens circulating in the current human population, which should be taken into account during syphilis vaccine development.
- Language
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- English
- Open access status
- gold
- Identifiers
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- DOI 10.3389/fmicb.2019.01691
- PMID 31417509
- Persistent URL
- https://folia.unifr.ch/global/documents/33316
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