Unencapsulated Streptococcus pneumoniae from conjunctivitis encode variant traits and belong to a distinct phylogenetic cluster

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Nat Commun
• Personal Author:
  Valentino, Michael D. ; McGuire, Abigail Manson ; Rosch, Jason W. ; Bispo, Paulo J. M. ; Burnham, Corinna ; Sanfilippo, Christine M. ; Carter, Robert A. ; Zegans, Michael E. ; Beall, Bernard ; Earl, Ashlee M. ; Tuomanen, Elaine I. ; Morris, Timothy W. ; Haas, Wolfgang ; Gilmore, Michael S.
• Description:
  Streptococcus pneumoniae, an inhabitant of the upper respiratory mucosa, causes respiratory and invasive infections as well as conjunctivitis. Strains that lack the capsule, a main virulence factor and the target of current vaccines, are often isolated from conjunctivitis cases. Here we perform a comparative genomic analysis of 271 strains of conjunctivitis-causing S. pneumoniae from 72 postal codes in the United States. We find that the vast majority of conjunctivitis strains are members of a distinct cluster of closely related unencapsulated strains. These strains possess divergent forms of pneumococcal virulence factors (such as CbpA and neuraminidases) that are not shared with other unencapsulated nasopharyngeal S. pneumoniae. They also possess putative adhesins that have not been described in encapsulated pneumococci. These findings suggest that the unencapsulated strains capable of causing conjunctivitis utilize a pathogenesis strategy substantially different from that described for S. pneumoniae at other infection sites.
• Subjects:
  Adhesins, Bacterial Article Asymptomatic Infections Bacterial Capsules Blotting, Western Conjunctivitis, Bacterial Genome, Bacterial Humans Multigene Family Multilocus Sequence Typing Phylogeny Phylogeography Pneumococcal Infections Virulence Factors

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• Source:
  Nat Commun. 5:5411
• Pubmed ID:
  25388376
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4231546
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  HHSN272200900018C/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States ; R01 EY024285/EY/NEI NIH HHS/United States ; EY007145/EY/NEI NIH HHS/United States ; AI083214/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States ; HHSN272200900018C/PHS HHS/United States ; P01 AI083214/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States ; U19 AI110818/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States ; T32 EY007145/EY/NEI NIH HHS/United States
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Volume:
  5
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:223a3c0531924721cf01d523bd23122f5d0c4e14aba4a58ba7040fcf42a0e1c0
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/90981/cdc_90981_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.00 MB ]