Project description:Streptococcus suis is an important zoonotic pathogen that can cause meningitis and sepsis in both pigs and humans. In this study,we evaluated the genetic difference of 40 Streptococcus suis strains belonging to various sequence types by comparative genomic hybridization to identify genes associated with the variation in pathogenicity using NimbleGen’s tilling microarray platform. Application of Comparative Phylogenomics to Identify Genetic Differences Relating to Pathogenicity of Streptococcus suis
Project description:Identification of Genes and Genomic Islands Correlated with High Pathogenicity through Tilling Microarray-Based Comparative Genomics in S. suis. Streptococcus suis is an important zoonotic pathogen that can cause meningitis and sepsis in both pigs and humans. S. suis isolates have been categorized into groups of different levels of pathogenicity, with sequence type (ST) ST1 clonal complex strains having a higher degree of virulence than other STs. However, the genetic basis of the differences in pathogenicity is still poorly understood. In this study, a comprehensive genomic comparison of 31 S. suis strains from different clinical sources with the genome sequence of the high pathogenicity (HP) strain GZ1 was conducted using NimbleGen’s tilling microarray platform.
Project description:Chlamydia suis demonstrates unprecedented genome diversity, plasticity and mobile antibiotic resistance: comparative genomics of a recent livestock cohort
Project description:Streptococcus suis is a major pig pathogen as well as an emerging zoonotic pathogen. Previous work has demonstrated that the S. suis extracellular amylopullulanase enzyme (ApuA) that degrades {alpha}-glucans also functions as an adhesin for porcine epithelial cells. To identify the mechanisms linking carbohydrate metabolism and virulence, we first compared the transcriptome of S. suis in minimal medium supplemented with glucose to minimal medium containing a complex carbohydrate pullulan as a carbon source. The relative expression of eighteen virulence genes including suilysin and apuA was increased during growth in presence of pullulan, compared to growth in glucose. Increased virulence potential of S. suis grown in pullulan was demonstrated using hemolytic assays and increased adhesion and invasion of porcine epithelial cells in vitro. A metabolic map of S. suis was generated and combined with transcriptome data to visualize the metabolic adaption of S. suis during adhesion and invasion of the porcine epithelial cells representing an in vitro model of infection. The role of carbon catabolite control in virulence gene regulation was investigated and the molecular mechanism of transcriptional regulation was elucidated for apuA. We demonstrate that relief of CcpA repression is a crucial transcriptional control mechanism linking carbohydrate mechanism and virulence. The model for the transcriptional regulation of two important virulence factors apuA and suilysin was verified by qPCR analysis of gene expression in S. suis recovered from the organs and blood of infected pigs.