The genome sequence of Salmonella enterica serovar Choleraesuis, a highly invasive and resistant zoonotic pathogen

Cheng Hsun Chiu*, Petrus Tang, Chishih Chu, Songnian Hu, Qiyu Bao, Jun Yu, Yun Ying Chou, Hsin Shih Wang, Ying Shiung Lee

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

181 Scopus citations

Abstract

Salmonella enterica serovar Choleraesuis (S.Choleraesuis), a highly invasive serovar among non-typhoidal Salmonella, usually causes sepsis or extra-intestinal focal infections in humans. S. Choleraesuis infections have now become particularly difficult treat because of the emergence of resistance to multiple antimicrobial agents. The 4.7 Mb genome sequence of a multidrug-resistant S.Choleraesuis strain SC-B67 was determined. Genome wide comparison of three sequenced Salmonella genomes revealed that more deletion events occurred in S.Choleraesuis SC-B67 and S.Ty CT18 relative to S.Typhimurium LT2. S.Choleraesuis has 151 pseudogenes, which, among the three Salmonella genomes, include the highest percentage of pseudogenes arising from the genes involved in bacterial chemotaxis signal-transduction pathways. Mutations in these genes may increase smooth swimming of the bacteria, potentially allowing more effective interactions with and invasion of host cells to occur. A key regulatory gene of TetR/AcrR family, acrR, was inactivated through the introduction of an internal stop codon resulting in overexpression of AcrAB that appears to be associated with ciprofloxacin resistance. While lateral gene transfer providing basic functions to allow niche expansion in the host and environment is maintained during the evolution of different serovars of Salmonella, genes providing little overall selective benefit may be lost rapidly. Our findings suggest that the formation of pseudogenes may provide a simple evolutionary pathway that complements gene acquisition to enhance virulence and antimicrobial resistance in S.Choleraesuis.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1690-1698
Number of pages9
JournalNucleic Acids Research
Volume33
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 2005

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