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Journal ArticleDOI

In Silico Detection and Typing of Plasmids using PlasmidFinder and Plasmid Multilocus Sequence Typing

TL;DR: Two easy-to-use Web tools for in silico detection and characterization of whole-genome sequence (WGS) and whole-plasmid sequence data from members of the family Enterobacteriaceae are designed and developed.
Abstract: In the work presented here, we designed and developed two easy-to-use Web tools for in silico detection and characterization of whole-genome sequence (WGS) and whole-plasmid sequence data from members of the family Enterobacteriaceae. These tools will facilitate bacterial typing based on draft genomes of multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae species by the rapid detection of known plasmid types. Replicon sequences from 559 fully sequenced plasmids associated with the family Enterobacteriaceae in the NCBI nucleotide database were collected to build a consensus database for integration into a Web tool called PlasmidFinder that can be used for replicon sequence analysis of raw, contig group, or completely assembled and closed plasmid sequencing data. The PlasmidFinder database currently consists of 116 replicon sequences that match with at least at 80% nucleotide identity all replicon sequences identified in the 559 fully sequenced plasmids. For plasmid multilocus sequence typing (pMLST) analysis, a database that is updated weekly was generated from www.pubmlst.org and integrated into a Web tool called pMLST. Both databases were evaluated using draft genomes from a collection of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium isolates. PlasmidFinder identified a total of 103 replicons and between zero and five different plasmid replicons within each of 49 S . Typhimurium draft genomes tested. The pMLST Web tool was able to subtype genomic sequencing data of plasmids, revealing both known plasmid sequence types (STs) and new alleles and ST variants. In conclusion, testing of the two Web tools using both fully assembled plasmid sequences and WGS-generated draft genomes showed them to be able to detect a broad variety of plasmids that are often associated with antimicrobial resistance in clinically relevant bacterial pathogens.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The mobilome-40A carries a blend of several different resistance and virulence genes, heavy metal tolerance operons and conjugation system that makes the bacterial isolate incredibly adapted to survive under constant antimicrobial pressure.
Abstract: We describe the mobilome of Escherichia fergusonii 40A isolated from poultry, consisting of four different plasmids, p46_40A (IncX1, 45,869 bp), p80_40A (non-typable, 79,635 bp), p150_40A (IncI1-ST1, 148,340 bp) and p280_40A (IncHI2A-ST2, 279,537 bp). The mobilome-40A carries a blend of several different resistance and virulence genes, heavy metal tolerance operons and conjugation system. This mobilome 40A is a perfect tool to preserve and disseminate antimicrobial resistance and makes the bacterial isolate incredibly adapted to survive under constant antimicrobial pressure.

12 citations


Cites methods from "In Silico Detection and Typing of P..."

  • ...Web tools provided by the Center for Genomic Epidemiology were used to predict the antimicrobial resistance genes,(6) plasmids incompatibility groups, multilocus sequence type (MLST), virulence-related genes and plasmid multilocus sequence typing (pMLST).(7) The Whole Genome Sequence project has been deposited at DDBJ/ENA/GenBank under the accession CP031282....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Light is shed on the virulence and AMR potential of E. coli ST302 strains and informs AMR genomic surveillance.
Abstract: aEPEC are associated with persistent diarrhea, and diarrheal outbreaks in both humans and animals worldwide. They are differentiated from typical EPEC by the lack of bundle-forming pili, and from EHEC by the lack of phage-mediated stx toxins. However, phylogenetic analyses often associate aEPEC with EHEC, promoting the hypothesis that aEPEC are the progenitors of EHEC, which is supported by aEPEC conversion to EHEC by stx-carrying phages. While aEPEC can cause disease outright, the potential to acquire stx, one of the most potent bacterial toxins known, merits close monitoring. Escherichia coli ST302 (O108:H9, O182:H9, O45:H9) are aEPEC that have been isolated from diarrheic human, pig and rabbit hosts, as well as in healthy pigs, however, no study to date has focused on E. coli ST302 strains. Through WGS and hybrid assembly we present the first closed chromosome, and two circularized plasmids of an ST302 strain - F2_18C, isolated from a healthy pig in Australia. A phylogenetic analysis placed E. coli ST302 strains in proximity to EHEC ST32 (O145:H28) strains. Public databases were interrogated for WGSs of E. coli ST302 strains and short-read gene screens were used to compare their virulence-associated gene (VAG) and antimicrobial resistance gene (ARG) cargo. E. coli ST302 strains carry diverse VAGs, including those that typically associated with extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC). Plasmid comparisons showed that pF2_18C_FIB shared homology with EHEC virulence plasmids such as pO103 while pF2_18C_HI2 is a large multidrug resistance IncHI2:ST3 plasmid. A comparison of 33 HI2:ST3 plasmids demonstrated that those of Australian origin have not acquired resistances to extended-spectrum beta-lactams, colistin, fosfomycin or rifampicin, unlike those originating from Asia. F2_18C was shown to carry two additional pathogenicity islands - ETT2, and the STEC-associated PAI CL 3, plasmid-associated heavy metal resistance genes, as well as several unoccupied stx-phage attachment sites. This study sheds light on the virulence and AMR potential of E. coli ST302 strains and informs AMR genomic surveillance.

12 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A robust genomic and phenotypic profiling of clinical isolates established from diarrheal samples from either intrahospital (IH) or community (CO) populations in central Colombia highlights the regional differences that C. difficile isolates display.
Abstract: Clostridium difficile, the causal agent of antibiotic-associated diarrhea, has a complex epidemiology poorly studied in Latin America. We performed a robust genomic and phenotypic profiling of 53 C. difficile clinical isolates established from diarrheal samples from either intrahospital (IH) or community (CO) populations in central Colombia. In vitro tests were conducted to evaluate the cytopathic effect, the minimum inhibitory concentration of ten antimicrobial agents, the sporulation efficiency and the colony forming ability. Eleven different sequence types (STs) were found, the majority present individually in each sample, however in three samples two different STs were isolated. Interestingly, CO patients were infected with STs associated with hypervirulent strains (ST-1 in Clade-2). Three coexistence events (two STs simultaneously detected in the same sample) were observed always involving ST-8 from Clade-1. A total of 2,502 genes were present in 99% of the isolates with 95% of identity or more, it represents a core genome of 28.6% of the 8,735 total genes identified in the set of genomes. A high cytopathic effect was observed for the isolates positive for the two main toxins but negative for binary toxin (TcdA+/TcdB+/CDT− toxin production type), found only in Clade-1. Molecular markers conferring resistance to fluoroquinolones (cdeA and gyrA) and to sulfonamides (folP) were the most frequent in the analyzed genomes. In addition, 15 other markers were found mostly in Clade-2 isolates. These results highlight the regional differences that C. difficile isolates display, being in this case the CO isolates the ones having a greater number of accessory genes and virulence-associated factors.

12 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors characterize the genetic context of fosA in plasmids from Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp. isolates collected between 2012 and 2019 in Switzerland were screened for fosfomycin resistance.
Abstract: Objectives Fosfomycin is an important antibiotic for the treatment of MDR Enterobacteriaceae infections. High susceptibility rates are, however, threatened by the spread of plasmids encoding fosfomycin-modifying enzymes. In this study, we sought to characterize the genetic context of fosA in plasmids from Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp. isolates recovered from food, wastewater and surface water in Switzerland. Methods E. coli and Klebsiella spp. isolates collected between 2012 and 2019 in Switzerland were screened for fosfomycin resistance. Presence of fosA was verified by PCR and sodium phosphonoformate (PPF) disc potentiation testing, and transferability was tested using conjugation assays. Whole-genome sequences including complete fosA-containing plasmids were determined using long- and short-read sequencing. Results In 11 E. coli and two Klebsiella spp. isolates, high-level fosfomycin resistance was mediated by plasmids containing fosA3 (n = 12) or fosA8 (n = 1). Four isolates harboured a near-identical 45 kb IncN plasmid with fosA3, while replicon types varied in the remaining plasmids. The fosA genes were typically embedded in IS26-bounded transposition units and frequently located in the proximity of blaCTX-M transposition units. Conclusions Although fosfomycin resistance rates are currently low, the presence of fosA-encoding plasmids circulating in the Enterobacteriaceae population suggests that fosfomycin resistance may rapidly spread upon increased selection pressure. Transposition mobility of fosA and co-location on plasmids with other resistance genes may further promote its dissemination.

12 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A web server providing a convenient way of identifying acquired antimicrobial resistance genes in completely sequenced isolates was created, and the method was evaluated on WGS chromosomes and plasmids of 30 isolates.
Abstract: Objectives Identification of antimicrobial resistance genes is important for understanding the underlying mechanisms and the epidemiology of antimicrobial resistance. As the costs of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) continue to decline, it becomes increasingly available in routine diagnostic laboratories and is anticipated to substitute traditional methods for resistance gene identification. Thus, the current challenge is to extract the relevant information from the large amount of generated data.

3,956 citations


"In Silico Detection and Typing of P..." refers methods in this paper

  • ...To extract the relevant information from the large amount of data generated, a Web-based tool, ResFinder, for the identification of acquired or intrinsically present antimicrobial resistance genes in whole-genome data was recently developed (15)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: NCBI’s Conserved Domain Database (CDD) is a resource for the annotation of protein sequences with the location of conserved domain footprints, and functional sites inferred from these footprints.
Abstract: NCBI's Conserved Domain Database (CDD) is a resource for the annotation of protein sequences with the location of conserved domain footprints, and functional sites inferred from these footprints. CDD includes manually curated domain models that make use of protein 3D structure to refine domain models and provide insights into sequence/structure/function relationships. Manually curated models are organized hierarchically if they describe domain families that are clearly related by common descent. As CDD also imports domain family models from a variety of external sources, it is a partially redundant collection. To simplify protein annotation, redundant models and models describing homologous families are clustered into superfamilies. By default, domain footprints are annotated with the corresponding superfamily designation, on top of which specific annotation may indicate high-confidence assignment of family membership. Pre-computed domain annotation is available for proteins in the Entrez/Protein dataset, and a novel interface, Batch CD-Search, allows the computation and download of annotation for large sets of protein queries. CDD can be accessed via http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Structure/cdd/cdd.shtml.

2,934 citations


"In Silico Detection and Typing of P..." refers background in this paper

  • ...In particular, the replicase proteins showing the pfam02387 or pfam01051 conserved domains were assigned to the FII and FIB groups, respectively (31)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Results indicated that the inc/rep PCR method demonstrates high specificity and sensitivity in detecting replicons on reference plasmids and also revealed the presence of recurrent and common plasmid in epidemiologically unrelated Salmonella isolates of different serotypes.

2,163 citations


"In Silico Detection and Typing of P..." refers methods in this paper

  • ...A collection of 24 previously characterized and fully FIG 1 Numbers of fully sequenced plasmids (y axis) classified into incompatibility groups occurring in the different bacterial species of the Enterobacteriaceae family....

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  • ...Since 2005, a PCR-based replicon typing (PBRT) scheme has been available that targets in multiplex PCRs the replicons of the major plasmid families occurring in members of the family Enterobacteriaceae (2)....

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  • ...Here, we present two free, easy-to-use Web tools, PlasmidFinder and pMLST, to analyze and classify plasmids from bacterial species of the family Enterobacteriaceae....

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  • ...Here, we describe the design of two new easy-to-use Web tools useful for the rapid identification of plasmids in Enterobacteriaceae species that are of interest for epidemiological and clinical microbiology investigations of the plasmid-associated spread of antimicrobial resistance....

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  • ...This method was initially developed to detect the replicons of plasmids belonging to the 18 major incompatibility (Inc) groups of Enterobacteriaceae species (3)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Bacterial Isolate Genome Sequence Database (BIGSDB) represents a freely available resource that will assist the broader community in the elucidation of the structure and function of bacteria by means of a population genomics approach.
Abstract: The opportunities for bacterial population genomics that are being realised by the application of parallel nucleotide sequencing require novel bioinformatics platforms These must be capable of the storage, retrieval, and analysis of linked phenotypic and genotypic information in an accessible, scalable and computationally efficient manner The Bacterial Isolate Genome Sequence Database (BIGSDB) is a scalable, open source, web-accessible database system that meets these needs, enabling phenotype and sequence data, which can range from a single sequence read to whole genome data, to be efficiently linked for a limitless number of bacterial specimens The system builds on the widely used mlstdbNet software, developed for the storage and distribution of multilocus sequence typing (MLST) data, and incorporates the capacity to define and identify any number of loci and genetic variants at those loci within the stored nucleotide sequences These loci can be further organised into 'schemes' for isolate characterisation or for evolutionary or functional analyses Isolates and loci can be indexed by multiple names and any number of alternative schemes can be accommodated, enabling cross-referencing of different studies and approaches LIMS functionality of the software enables linkage to and organisation of laboratory samples The data are easily linked to external databases and fine-grained authentication of access permits multiple users to participate in community annotation by setting up or contributing to different schemes within the database Some of the applications of BIGSDB are illustrated with the genera Neisseria and Streptococcus The BIGSDB source code and documentation are available at http://pubmlstorg/software/database/bigsdb/ Genomic data can be used to characterise bacterial isolates in many different ways but it can also be efficiently exploited for evolutionary or functional studies BIGSDB represents a freely available resource that will assist the broader community in the elucidation of the structure and function of bacteria by means of a population genomics approach

1,943 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A Web-based method for MLST of 66 bacterial species based on whole-genome sequencing data that enables investigators to determine the sequence types of their isolates on the basis of WGS data.
Abstract: Accurate strain identification is essential for anyone working with bacteria. For many species, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) is considered the “gold standard” of typing, but it is traditionally performed in an expensive and time-consuming manner. As the costs of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) continue to decline, it becomes increasingly available to scientists and routine diagnostic laboratories. Currently, the cost is below that of traditional MLST. The new challenges will be how to extract the relevant information from the large amount of data so as to allow for comparison over time and between laboratories. Ideally, this information should also allow for comparison to historical data. We developed a Web-based method for MLST of 66 bacterial species based on WGS data. As input, the method uses short sequence reads from four sequencing platforms or preassembled genomes. Updates from the MLST databases are downloaded monthly, and the best-matching MLST alleles of the specified MLST scheme are found using a BLAST-based ranking method. The sequence type is then determined by the combination of alleles identified. The method was tested on preassembled genomes from 336 isolates covering 56 MLST schemes, on short sequence reads from 387 isolates covering 10 schemes, and on a small test set of short sequence reads from 29 isolates for which the sequence type had been determined by traditional methods. The method presented here enables investigators to determine the sequence types of their isolates on the basis of WGS data. This method is publicly available at www.cbs.dtu.dk/services/MLST.

1,620 citations


"In Silico Detection and Typing of P..." refers methods in this paper

  • ...If raw sequence reads are uploaded, they are first assembled (after the sequencing platform is given by the user) as described previously (16)....

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