title: Global and regional dissemination and evolution of Burkholderia pseudomallei.
abstract: The environmental bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei causes an estimated 165,000 cases of human melioidosis per year worldwide and is also classified as a biothreat agent. We used whole genome sequences of 469 B. pseudomallei isolates from 30 countries collected over 79 years to explore its geographic transmission. Our data point to Australia as an early reservoir, with transmission to Southeast Asia followed by onward transmission to South Asia and East Asia. Repeated reintroductions were observed within the Malay Peninsula and between countries bordered by the Mekong River. Our data support an African origin of the Central and South American isolates with introduction of B. pseudomallei into the Americas between 1650 and 1850, providing a temporal link with the slave trade. We also identified geographically distinct genes/variants in Australasian or Southeast Asian isolates alone, with virulence-associated genes being among those over-represented. This provides a potential explanation for clinical manifestations of melioidosis that are geographically restricted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK.|Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK.|Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Program, School of Bioresources and Technology, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, 10140 Bangkok, Thailand.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chewapreecha
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK.|School of Medicine, University of St Andrew, KY16 9AJ, UK.
authors.forename: Matthew T G
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4958-2166
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Holden
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Helsinki 00100, Finland.
authors.forename: Minna
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vehkala
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Clinical Genetics, Genome-Scale Biology Research Program, University of Helsinki 00100, Finland.
authors.forename: Niko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Välimäki
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Helsinki 00100, Finland.
authors.forename: Zhirong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK.
authors.forename: Simon R
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1512-6194
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, CB3 0ES, UK.
authors.forename: Alison E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Mather
authors.affiliation: Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Florida 32611, USA.
authors.forename: Apichai
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tuanyok
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium.|Laboratory of Microbiology, Faculty of Sciences, Ghent University, 9000 Belgium.
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: De Smet
authors.affiliation: Department of Infection and Epidemiology, Enteric bacteria pathogen Unit, Institut Pasteur, 75015 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Le Hello
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Collection of Institut Pasteur, Institut Pasteur, 75015 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bizet
authors.affiliation: Global and Tropical Health Division, Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University and Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, Northern Territory 0811 Australia.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mayo
authors.affiliation: Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, 10400 Bangkok, Thailand.
authors.forename: Vanaporn
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Wuthiekanun
authors.affiliation: Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, 10400 Bangkok, Thailand.|Department of Tropical Hygiene, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, 10400 Bangkok, Thailand.|Centre for Tropical Medicine &Global Health, University of Oxford, OX3 7FZ, UK.
authors.forename: Direk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Limmathurotsakul
authors.affiliation: Lao-Oxford-Mahosot Hospital-Wellcome Trust Research Unit, Microbiology Laboratory, Mahosot Hospital, Vientiane, Lao PDR.
authors.forename: Rattanaphone
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Phetsouvanh
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College, SW7 2AZ, UK.
authors.forename: Brian G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Spratt
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Helsinki 00100, Finland.|Department of Biostatistics, University of Oslo, 0313 Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Jukka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Corander
authors.affiliation: Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics, Northern Arizona University, Arizona 86011-4073, USA.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Keim
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK.|Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK.
authors.forename: Gordon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dougan
authors.affiliation: Centre for Tropical Medicine &Global Health, University of Oxford, OX3 7FZ, UK.|Lao-Oxford-Mahosot Hospital-Wellcome Trust Research Unit, Microbiology Laboratory, Mahosot Hospital, Vientiane, Lao PDR.|London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK.
authors.forename: David A B
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9189-7244
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Dance
authors.affiliation: Global and Tropical Health Division, Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University and Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, Northern Territory 0811 Australia.
authors.forename: Bart J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Currie
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK.
authors.forename: Julian
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7069-5958
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Parkhill
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK.|Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK.|London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK.
authors.forename: Sharon J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Peacock
mesh_terms: D000569:Americas / Q000453:epidemiology; D000818:Animals; D001208:Asia / Q000453:epidemiology; D001210:Asia, Southeastern / Q000453:epidemiology; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016957:Burkholderia pseudomallei / Q000235:genetics*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005202:Asia, Eastern / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia / Q000453:epidemiology; D008554:Melioidosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000635:transmission; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial