| Title: |
Microevolution and genomic epidemiology of the diphtheria-causing zoonotic pathogen Corynebacterium ulcerans |
| Authors: |
Crestani, Chiara; Passet, Virginie; Rethoret-Pasty, Martin; Zidane, Nora; Brémont, Sylvie; Badell, Edgar; Criscuolo, Alexis; Brisse, Sylvain |
| Contributors: |
Biodiversité et Epidémiologie des Bactéries pathogènes - Biodiversity and Epidemiology of Bacterial Pathogens; Institut Pasteur Paris (IP)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité); Centre national de Référence des Corynebactéries du Complexe Diphtheriae - National Reference Center Corynebacteria of the diphtheriae complex (CNR); Groupe d’Inférence Phylogénétique - Genome Informatics and Phylogenetics (GIPhy); Centre de Ressources biologiques de l'Institut Pasteur - Biological Resource Center of the Institut Pasteur (CRBIP); Institut Pasteur Paris (IP)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-Institut Pasteur Paris (IP)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité); The NRC for Corynebacteria of the diphtheriae complex is supported financially by Institut Pasteur and Santé Publique France (Public Health France). This work was supported financially by the French Government’s Investissement d’Avenir grant Laboratoire d’Excellence Integrative Biology of Emerging Infectious Diseases (ANR-10-LABX-62-IBEID). We thank Dr Julie Toubiana for her clinical expertise and support to the French NRC. We thank the Mutualized Platform for Microbiology (P2M, Institut Pasteur) for sequencing isolates using Illumina technology. This work used the computational and storage services provided by the IT Department at Institut Pasteur.; ANR-10-LABX-0062,IBEID,Integrative Biology of Emerging Infectious Diseases(2010) |
| Source: |
ISSN: 2041-1723. |
| Publisher Information: |
CCSD; Nature Publishing Group |
| Publication Year: |
2025 |
| Subject Terms: |
Bacteriology; Infectious-disease diagnostics; Phylogenetics; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology |
| Description: |
International audience ; Corynebacterium ulcerans is an emerging zoonotic pathogen which causes diphtheria-like infections. Although C. ulcerans is found in multiple domestic and wild animal species, most human cases are linked with pets. Our ability to decipher cross-host species transmission dynamics and to understand the emergence of clinically relevant clones (e.g., diphtheria toxin-positive) is currently hampered by a limited knowledge of C. ulcerans strain diversity and genome evolution. Here, we explore the genomic population structure and evolution of C. ulcerans with 582 isolates from diverse hosts and geographical locations. A newly developed core genome genotyping scheme captures the population structure of C. ulcerans both at deep and shallow phylogenetic levels, uncovering its main sublineages and offering high strain subtyping resolution for epidemiological surveillance. Additionally, we reveal the diversity and distribution of the diphtheria toxin gene ( tox ), and those of its associated mobile elements. Considering the entire Corynebacterium diphtheriae Species Complex, we find four diphtheria toxin families, five tox -prophage families, and a novel tox -carrying genetic element. We show that some toxin families are shared across Corynebacterium species, revealing tox -prophage cross-species transfer. Our work enhances knowledge on the ecology and evolution of C. ulcerans and provides a genomic framework for tracking the dissemination of emerging sublineages. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/40413184; PUBMED: 40413184; PUBMEDCENTRAL: PMC12103533 |
| DOI: |
10.1038/s41467-025-60065-0 |
| Availability: |
https://pasteur.hal.science/pasteur-05113073; https://pasteur.hal.science/pasteur-05113073v1/document; https://pasteur.hal.science/pasteur-05113073v1/file/2025-Crestani.et.al-Nat.Comm.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60065-0 |
| Rights: |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ ; info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.F2C26C90 |
| Database: |
BASE |