title: Comparative genomic analysis of malaria mosquito vector-associated novel pathogen Elizabethkingia anophelis.
abstract: Acquisition of Elizabethkingia infections in intensive care units (ICUs) has risen in the past decade. Treatment of Elizabethkingia infections is challenging due to the lack of effective therapeutic regimens, leading to a high mortality rate. Elizabethkingia infections have long been attributed to Elizabethkingia meningoseptica. Recently, we used whole-genome sequencing to reveal that E. anophelis is the pathogenic agent for an Elizabethkingia outbreak at two ICUs. We performed comparative genomic analysis of seven hospital-isolated E. anophelis strains with five available Elizabethkingia spp. genomes deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology Information Database. A pan-genomic approach was applied to identify the core- and pan-genome for the Elizabethkingia genus. We showed that unlike the hospital-isolated pathogen E. meningoseptica ATCC 12535 strain, the hospital-isolated E. anophelis strains have genome content and organization similar to the E. anophelis Ag1 and R26 strains isolated from the midgut microbiota of the malaria mosquito vector Anopheles gambiae. Both the core- and accessory genomes of Elizabethkingia spp. possess genes conferring antibiotic resistance and virulence. Our study highlights that E. anophelis is an emerging bacterial pathogen for hospital environments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Microbiology Unit, National University Hospital, Singapore.
authors.forename: Jeanette
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Teo
authors.affiliation: Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), Nanyang Technological University, SingaporeSchool of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
authors.forename: Sean Yang-Yi
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), Nanyang Technological University, SingaporeSchool of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tay
authors.affiliation: Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
authors.forename: Yichen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
authors.forename: Yingying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), Nanyang Technological University, SingaporeCentre for Marine Bio-Innovation and School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Staffan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kjelleberg
authors.affiliation: Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), Nanyang Technological University, SingaporeCosterton Biofilm Center, Department of International Health, Immunology and Microbiology, Panum Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Givskov
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Microbiology Unit, National University Hospital, Singapore.
authors.forename: Raymond T P
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), Nanyang Technological University, SingaporeSchool of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore yangliang@ntu.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D009033:Culicidae / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D041965:Flavobacteriaceae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D045826:Flavobacteriaceae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000382:microbiology; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics
keywords: Elizabethkingia; comparative genomics; pan/core-genomes