Leaky barriers to gene sharing between locally co-existing coagulase-negative Staphylococcus species.
Odion O IkhimiukorStephanie S R SouzaMichael M MarcoviciGriffin J NyeRobert GibsonCheryl P AndamPublished in: Communications biology (2023)
Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CoNS) are opportunistic pathogens implicated in many human and animal infections. The evolutionary history of CoNS remains obscure because of the historical lack of recognition for their clinical importance and poor taxonomic sampling. Here, we sequenced the genomes of 191 CoNS isolates representing 15 species sampled from diseased animals diagnosed in a veterinary diagnostic laboratory. We found that CoNS are important reservoirs of diverse phages, plasmids and mobilizable genes encoding antimicrobial resistance, heavy metal resistance, and virulence. Frequent exchange of DNA between certain donor-recipient partners suggests that specific lineages act as hubs of gene sharing. We also detected frequent recombination between CoNS regardless of their animal host species, indicating that ecological barriers to horizontal gene transfer can be surmounted in co-circulating lineages. Our findings reveal frequent but structured patterns of transfer that exist within and between CoNS species, which are driven by their overlapping ecology and geographical proximity.
Keyphrases
- antimicrobial resistance
- genome wide
- staphylococcus aureus
- genome wide identification
- genetic diversity
- biofilm formation
- copy number
- heavy metals
- escherichia coli
- dna methylation
- endothelial cells
- dna damage
- health information
- pseudomonas aeruginosa
- oxidative stress
- single cell
- multidrug resistant
- climate change
- klebsiella pneumoniae
- cell free
- gene expression
- hepatitis c virus
- transcription factor
- hiv infected
- human immunodeficiency virus
- drinking water
- cystic fibrosis
- circulating tumor cells
- dna repair
- candida albicans
- health risk