title: Non-toxigenic environmental Vibrio cholerae O1 strain from Haiti provides evidence of pre-pandemic cholera in Hispaniola.
abstract: Vibrio cholerae is ubiquitous in aquatic environments, with environmental toxigenic V. cholerae O1 strains serving as a source for recurrent cholera epidemics and pandemic disease. However, a number of questions remain about long-term survival and evolution of V. cholerae strains within these aquatic environmental reservoirs. Through monitoring of the Haitian aquatic environment following the 2010 cholera epidemic, we isolated two novel non-toxigenic (ctxA/B-negative) Vibrio cholerae O1. These two isolates underwent whole-genome sequencing and were investigated through comparative genomics and Bayesian coalescent analysis. These isolates cluster in the evolutionary tree with strains responsible for clinical cholera, possessing genomic components of 6thand 7thpandemic lineages, and diverge from "modern" cholera strains around 1548 C.E. [95% HPD: 1532-1555]. Vibrio Pathogenicity Island (VPI)-1 was present; however, SXT/R391-family ICE and VPI-2 were absent. Rugose phenotype conversion and vibriophage resistance evidenced adaption for persistence in aquatic environments. The identification of V. cholerae O1 strains in the Haitian environment, which predate the first reported cholera pandemic in 1817, broadens our understanding of the history of pandemics. It also raises the possibility that these and similar environmental strains could acquire virulence genes from the 2010 Haitian epidemic clone, including the cholera toxin producing CTXϕ.
authors: Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.
authors: Taj
authors: T
authors: Azarian
authors: Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.|Department of Environmental and Global Health, College of Public Health and Health Profession, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
authors: Afsar
authors: A
authors: Ali
authors: Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.|Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.
authors: Judith A
authors: JA
authors: Johnson
authors: Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.|Department of Environmental and Global Health, College of Public Health and Health Profession, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
authors: Mohammad
authors: M
authors: Jubair
authors: Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.|Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immunomediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.|Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
authors: Eleonora
authors: E
authors: Cella
authors: Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.|University Hospital Campus Bio-Medico, Italy.
authors: Massimo
authors: M
authors: Ciccozzi
authors: Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.|Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.
authors: David J
authors: DJ
authors: Nolan
authors: Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
authors: William
authors: W
authors: Farmerie
authors: Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.
authors: Mohammad H
authors: MH
authors: Rashid
authors: Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.
authors: Shrestha
authors: S
authors: Sinha-Ray
authors: Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.|Department of Environmental and Global Health, College of Public Health and Health Profession, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
authors: Meer T
authors: MT
authors: Alam
authors: Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.|Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
authors: J Glenn
authors: JG
authors: Morris
authors: Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.|Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.
authors: Marco
authors: M
authors: Salemi
mesh_terms: D001499:Bayes Theorem; D002771:Cholera / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D002772:Cholera Toxin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D006205:Haiti / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D058873:Pandemics; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D041241:Vibrio cholerae O1 / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014871:Water Microbiology; D000073336:Whole Genome Sequencing
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D002772:Cholera Toxin