TY - JOUR
T1 - Large scale genomic analysis shows no evidence for pathogen adaptation between the blood and cerebrospinal fluid niches during bacterial meningitis
AU - Lees, John A.
AU - Kremer, Philip H. C.
AU - Manso, Ana S.
AU - Croucher, Nicholas J.
AU - Ferwerda, Bart
AU - Valls Serón, Mercedes
AU - Oggioni, Marco R.
AU - Parkhill, Julian
AU - Brouwer, Matthijs C.
AU - van der Ende, Arie
AU - van de Beek, Diederik
AU - Bentley, Stephen D.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Recent studies have provided evidence for rapid pathogen genome diversification, some of which could potentially affect the course of disease. We have previously described such variation seen between isolates infecting the blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of a single patient during a case of bacterial meningitis. Here, we performed whole-genome sequencing of paired isolates from the blood and CSF of 869 meningitis patients to determine whether such variation frequently occurs between these two niches in cases of bacterial meningitis. Using a combination of reference-free variant calling approaches, we show that no genetic adaptation occurs in either invaded niche during bacterial meningitis for two major pathogen species, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Neisseria meningitidis. This study therefore shows that the bacteria capable of causing meningitis are already able to do this upon entering the blood, and no further sequence change is necessary to cross the blood-brain barrier. Our findings place the focus back on bacterial evolution between nasopharyngeal carriage and invasion, or diversity of the host, as likely mechanisms for determining invasiveness
AB - Recent studies have provided evidence for rapid pathogen genome diversification, some of which could potentially affect the course of disease. We have previously described such variation seen between isolates infecting the blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of a single patient during a case of bacterial meningitis. Here, we performed whole-genome sequencing of paired isolates from the blood and CSF of 869 meningitis patients to determine whether such variation frequently occurs between these two niches in cases of bacterial meningitis. Using a combination of reference-free variant calling approaches, we show that no genetic adaptation occurs in either invaded niche during bacterial meningitis for two major pathogen species, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Neisseria meningitidis. This study therefore shows that the bacteria capable of causing meningitis are already able to do this upon entering the blood, and no further sequence change is necessary to cross the blood-brain barrier. Our findings place the focus back on bacterial evolution between nasopharyngeal carriage and invasion, or diversity of the host, as likely mechanisms for determining invasiveness
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1099/mgen.0.000103
DO - https://doi.org/10.1099/mgen.0.000103
M3 - Article
C2 - 28348877
SN - 2057-5858
VL - 3
SP - e000103
JO - Microbial genomics
JF - Microbial genomics
IS - 1
ER -