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Zhong L, Zhang M, Sun L, Yang Y, Wang B, Yang H, Shen Q, Xia Y, Cui J, Hang H, Ren Y, Pang B, Deng X, Zhan Y, Li H, Zhou Z. Distributed genotyping and clustering of Neisseria strains reveal continual emergence of epidemic meningococcus over a century. Nat Commun 2023; 14:7706. [PMID: 38001084 PMCID: PMC10673917 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43528-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2023] [Accepted: 11/13/2023] [Indexed: 11/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) is commonly used to classify bacterial strains into different types, for taxonomical and epidemiological applications. However, cgMLST schemes require central databases for the nomenclature of new alleles and sequence types, which must be synchronized worldwide and involve increasingly intensive calculation and storage demands. Here, we describe a distributed cgMLST (dcgMLST) scheme that does not require a central database of allelic sequences and apply it to study evolutionary patterns of epidemic and endemic strains of the genus Neisseria. We classify 69,994 worldwide Neisseria strains into multi-level clusters that assign species, lineages, and local disease outbreaks. We divide Neisseria meningitidis into 168 endemic lineages and three epidemic lineages responsible for at least 9 epidemics in the past century. According to our analyses, the epidemic and endemic lineages experienced very different population dynamics in the past 100 years. Epidemic lineages repetitively emerged from endemic lineages, disseminated worldwide, and apparently disappeared rapidly afterward. We propose a stepwise model for the evolutionary trajectory of epidemic lineages in Neisseria, and expect that the development of similar dcgMLST schemes will facilitate epidemiological studies of other bacterial pathogens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ling Zhong
- Pasteurien College, Suzhou Medical College, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, China
- Key Laboratory of Alkene-Carbon Fibers-Based Technology & Application for Detection of Major Infectious Diseases, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, China
| | - Menghan Zhang
- Suzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Suzhou, 215004, China
| | - Libing Sun
- Department of Pathology, East District of Suzhou Municipal Hospital, Suzhou, 215000, China
| | - Yu Yang
- Pasteurien College, Suzhou Medical College, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, China
| | - Bo Wang
- Suzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Suzhou, 215004, China
| | - Haibing Yang
- Suzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Suzhou, 215004, China
| | - Qiang Shen
- Suzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Suzhou, 215004, China
| | - Yu Xia
- Suzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Suzhou, 215004, China
| | - Jiarui Cui
- Suzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Suzhou, 215004, China
| | - Hui Hang
- Suzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Suzhou, 215004, China
| | - Yi Ren
- Iotabiome Biotechnology Inc, Suzhou, 215000, China
| | - Bo Pang
- National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Tracking and Forecasting for Infectious Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China
| | - Xiangyu Deng
- Center for Food Safety, University of Georgia, Griffin, GA, USA
| | - Yahui Zhan
- Suzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Suzhou, 215004, China.
| | - Heng Li
- Pasteurien College, Suzhou Medical College, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, China.
- Key Laboratory of Alkene-Carbon Fibers-Based Technology & Application for Detection of Major Infectious Diseases, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, China.
- Suzhou Key Laboratory of Pathogen Bioscience and Anti-infective Medicine, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, China.
| | - Zhemin Zhou
- Pasteurien College, Suzhou Medical College, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, China.
- Key Laboratory of Alkene-Carbon Fibers-Based Technology & Application for Detection of Major Infectious Diseases, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, China.
- National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Tracking and Forecasting for Infectious Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
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