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Genetic variation associated with infection and the environment in the accidental pathogen Burkholderia pseudomallei.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Authors

Chewapreecha, Claire  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1313-4011
Mather, Alison E 
Harris, Simon R 
Hunt, Martin 

Abstract

The environmental bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei causes melioidosis, an important endemic human disease in tropical and sub-tropical countries. This bacterium occupies broad ecological niches including soil, contaminated water, single-cell microbes, plants and infection in a range of animal species. Here, we performed genome-wide association studies for genetic determinants of environmental and human adaptation using a combined dataset of 1,010 whole genome sequences of B. pseudomallei from Northeast Thailand and Australia, representing two major disease hotspots. With these data, we identified 47 genes from 26 distinct loci associated with clinical or environmental isolates from Thailand and replicated 12 genes in an independent Australian cohort. We next outlined the selective pressures on the genetic loci (dN/dS) and the frequency at which they had been gained or lost throughout their evolutionary history, reflecting the bacterial adaptability to a wide range of ecological niches. Finally, we highlighted loci likely implicated in human disease.

Description

Keywords

Bacterial genetics, Evolutionary genetics, Genome-wide association studies, Burkholderia pseudomallei, Environment, Environmental Microbiology, Evolution, Molecular, Gene-Environment Interaction, Genetic Variation, Geography, Humans, Melioidosis, Models, Biological, Phylogeny, Phylogeography, Thailand

Journal Title

Commun Biol

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2399-3642
2399-3642

Volume Title

2

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (098600/Z/12/Z)
Wellcome Trust (107376/Z/15/Z)
National Institute for Health and Care Research (HICF-T5-342)