Document Detail


Evolution of pathogenicity in the Bacillus cereus group.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  19200684     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
The Bacillus cereus group of bacteria comprises soil-dwelling saprophytes but on occasion these bacteria can cause a wide range of diseases in humans, including food poisoning, systemic infections and highly lethal forms of anthrax. While anthrax is almost invariably caused by strains from a single evolutionary lineage, Bacillus anthracis, variation in the virulence properties of strains from other lineages has not been fully addressed. Using multi-locus sequence data from 667 strains, we reconstructed the evolutionary history of the B. cereus group in terms of both clonal inheritance and recombination. The strains included 155 clinical isolates representing B. anthracis, and isolates from emetic and diarrhoeal food poisoning, septicaemia and related infections, wound, and lung infections. We confirmed the existence of three major clades and found that clinical isolates of B. cereus (with the exception of emetic toxin-producing strains) are evenly distributed between and within clades 1 and 2. B. anthracis in particular and emetic toxin-producing B. cereus show more clonal structure and are restricted to clade 1. Our characterization of the patterns of genetic exchange showed that there exist partial barriers to gene flow between the three clades. The pathogenic strains do not exhibit atypically high or low rates of recombination, consistent with the opportunistic nature of most pathogenic infections. However, there have been a large number of recent imports in clade 1 of strains from external origins, which is indicative of an on-going shift in gene-flow boundaries for this clade.
Authors:
Xavier Didelot; Margaret Barker; Daniel Falush; Fergus G Priest
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article     Date:  2009-02-05
Journal Detail:
Title:  Systematic and applied microbiology     Volume:  32     ISSN:  0723-2020     ISO Abbreviation:  Syst. Appl. Microbiol.     Publication Date:  2009 Apr 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2009-02-16     Completed Date:  2009-05-18     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  8306133     Medline TA:  Syst Appl Microbiol     Country:  Germany    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  81-90     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Statistics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK. X.Didelot@warwick.ac.uk
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Bacillus cereus / classification,  genetics,  pathogenicity*
Bacterial Proteins / genetics
Evolution, Molecular*
Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / microbiology
Humans
Opportunistic Infections / microbiology
Recombination, Genetic
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Virulence / genetics
Chemical
Reg. No./Substance:
0/Bacterial Proteins

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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