Genomic Investigation Reveals Highly Conserved, Mosaic, Recombination Events Associated with Capsular Switching among Invasive Neisseria meningitidis Serogroup W Sequence Type (ST)-11 Strains.
Neisseria meningitidis is an important cause of meningococcal disease globally. Sequence type (ST)-11 clonal complex (cc11) is a hypervirulent meningococcal lineage historically associated with serogroup C capsule and is believed to have acquired the W capsule through a C to W capsular switching event. We studied the sequence of capsule gene cluster (cps) and adjoining genomic regions of 524 invasive W cc11 strains isolated globally. We identified recombination breakpoints corresponding to two distinct recombination events within W cc11: A 8.4-kb recombinant region likely acquired from W cc22 including the sialic acid/glycosyl-transferase gene, csw resulted in a C→W change in capsular phenotype and a 13.7-kb recombinant segment likely acquired from Y cc23 lineage includes 4.5 kb of cps genes and 8.2 kb downstream of the cps cluster resulting in allelic changes in capsule translocation genes. A vast majority of W cc11 strains (497/524, 94.8%) retain both recombination events as evidenced by sharing identical or very closely related capsular allelic profiles. These data suggest that the W cc11 capsular switch involved two separate recombination events and that current global W cc11 meningococcal disease is caused by strains bearing this mosaic capsular switch.
Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Research Unit, University of Pittsburgh mmm147@pitt.edu.
Mustapha M
MM
Mustapha
Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Research Unit, University of Pittsburgh.
Jane W
JW
Marsh
Public Health Dynamics Laboratory, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh.
Mary G
MG
Krauland
Molecular Genetics Laboratory, Public Health Institute of Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Jorge O
JO
Fernandez
Department of Bacteriology, Instituto Adolfo Lutz (IAL), São Paulo, Brazil.
Ana Paula S
AP
de Lemos
The Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore.
Julie C
JC
Dunning Hotopp
Meningitis and Vaccine Preventable Diseases Branch, Division of Bacterial Diseases, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Xin
X
Wang
Meningitis and Vaccine Preventable Diseases Branch, Division of Bacterial Diseases, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Leonard W
LW
Mayer
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh.
Jeffrey G
JG
Lawrence
Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
N Luisa
NL
Hiller
Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Research Unit, University of Pittsburgh.
Lee H
LH
Harrison
D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D008589:Meningococcal Infections / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology; D005810:Multigene Family; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D010802:Phylogeny; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D065288:Serogroup
capsule switch; horizontal gene transfer; serogroup W135