Abstract
BackgroundErysipelothrix rhusiopathiae is the causative agent of animal erysipelas and, to a fewer occurrences, human erysipeloid. It is ubiquitous in nature and commensal in diverse species of animals, wild or domestic, from mammals and birds to reptiles and fish. Mechanisms of its virulence and pathogenicity are poorly understood.ResultsMaking use of the complete genome sequencing of E. rhusiopathiae strain SY1027 and comparative genome analysis between the three highly pathogenic strains (SY1027, Fujisawa and ATCC19414), the genomic structure and putative functional elements, such as pathogenicity island (PAI)-like regions, potential virulence factors and horizontal transferring genes of the bacteria are identified. Strain SY1027 genome is 1,752,910 base pairs long, just 30 kilobases smaller than strain Fujisawa, with the same GC level of 36.36%. It contains 1,845 open reading frames (ORF) predicted by GLIMMER 3.02, of which 1,775 were annotated by PGAAP, 1,757 (~95.23%) were annotated by NCBI nr blast, 1,209 by COG database and 1,076 by KEGG database. 37 potential virulence factors were annotated in strain SY1027 by VFDB, while 19 (~51.35%) of them are common in the 2 strains, 7 of which are potentially related to antibiotic resistance and highly conserved (~98-100% match identity (ID)) amongst the three strains of E. rhusiopathiae and modestly homologous to other gastrointestinal tract-inhabiting Firmicutes (~40% match ID), e.g. Clostridium spp., Enterococcus spp. Genomic island- and pathogenicity island-like regions were also predicted, in which some showed association with tRNA and potential virulence factors.ConclusionComplete genome sequencing of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, the causative agent of animal erysipelas, was performed. Molecular identification of various genomic elements pave the way to the better understanding of mechanisms underlying metabolic capabilities, pathogenicity of swine erysipelas and prospective vaccine targets besides the widely used SpaA antigens.
Highlights
Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae is the causative agent of animal erysipelas and, to a fewer occurrences, human erysipeloid
Genome annotation of E. rhusiopathiae strain SY1027 1,845 open reading frames (ORF) were predicted by GLIMMER version 3.02, and 1,757 of them (i.e. 95.32%) were annotated by BLASTp search against the NCBI nonredundant database (Mar., 2013)
The complete genome of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae strain SY1027 was sequenced and assembled. It is 1,752,910 base pairs long, just 30 kilobases smaller than strain Fujisawa, with the same GC level of 36.36%. It contains 1845 open reading frames (ORF) predicted by GLIMMER 3.02, of which 1757 (95.23%) are annotated by NCBI nr blast, 1209 by COG database and 1076 by KEGG database. 37 potential virulence factors are annotated in strain SY1027 by VFDB, while 19 (51.35%) of them are common in the 2 strains, 7 of which are potentially related to antibiotic resistance and highly conserved (~98-100% match ID) amongst the three strains of E. rhusiopathiae and only modestly homologous to other gastrointestinal tract-inhabiting Firmicutes (~40% match ID), e.g. Clostridium spp., Enterococcus spp
Summary
Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae is the causative agent of animal erysipelas and, to a fewer occurrences, human erysipeloid It is ubiquitous in nature and commensal in diverse species of animals, wild or domestic, from mammals and birds to reptiles and fish. The heat labile capsule of E. rhusiopathiae has been associated with its resistance to phagocytosis and virulence by transposon mutagenesis study [3]. Surface proteins such as neuraminidase, SpaA antigen, two adhesive surface proteins containing the C-terminal anchoring LPXTG motif (RspA and RspB) have shown positive correlation to virulence of the bacteria [4,5,6], little is known about the mechanisms of its pathogenicity. Together with the draft genome of strain ATCC19414, data-mining of potential virulence factors, especially those related to capsular protein biosynthesis, would offer us a more reliable comparative genomic analysis and a better understanding of the common genomic structure and a more precise prediction of potential virulence factors for improvement of vaccine targets or strategy of disease control
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