Xavier Didelot

TL;DR: It is predicted that the application of next-generation sequencing will soon be sufficiently fast, accurate and cheap to be used in routine clinical microbiology practice, where it could replace many complex current techniques with a single, more efficient workflow.

TL;DR: A model-based method for using multilocus sequence data to infer the clonal relationships of bacteria and the chromosomal position of homologous recombination events that disrupt a clonal pattern of inheritance is described.

TL;DR: This work uses maximum likelihood inference to simultaneously detect recombination in bacterial genomes and account for it in phylogenetic reconstruction and finds evidence for recombination hotspots associated with mobile elements in Clostridium difficile ST6 and a previously undescribed 310kb chromosomal replacement in Staphylococcus aureus ST582.

TL;DR: Genetically diverse sources, in addition to symptomatic patients, play a major part in C. difficile transmission, which suggests a considerable reservoir of C. Difficile infection identified in health care settings or in the community in Oxfordshire.

TL;DR: Multi Locus Sequence Typing datasets from a wide variety of bacteria and archaea are analyzed using the ClonalFrame method, enabling a direct comparison between species and allowing for a first exploration of the question whether phylogeny or ecology is the primary determinant of homologous recombination rate.