Use of Whole-Genus Genome Sequence Data To Develop a Multilocus Sequence Typing Tool That Accurately Identifies Yersinia Isolates to the Species and Subspecies Levels

Authors:
Open Access
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The genus Yersinia is a large and diverse bacterial genus consisting of human pathogenic species, a fish pathogenic species, and a large number of environmental species. Recently the phylogenetic and population structure of the entire genus was elucidated through genome sequence data of 241 strains encompassing every known species in the genus. Here we report the mining of this enormous data set to create a multi-locus sequence typing-based scheme that can speciate Yersinia strains to a level of resolution equal to whole genome sequencing. Our assay is designed so that it is able to accurately sub-type the important human pathogenic species Y. enterocolitica to whole genome resolution levels. We also report the validation of the scheme on 386 strains from reference laboratory collections across Europe. We propose the scheme to be an important molecular typing system to allow accurate and reproducible speciation of Yersinia isolates, a process often inconsistent in non-specialist laboratories. Additionally our assay is the most phylogenetically informative typing scheme available for Y. enterocolitica.

This publication has 27 references indexed in Scilit: