Abstract
Cronobacter sakazakii is a Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen that causes life- threatening infantile infections, such as meningitis, septicemia, and necrotizing enterocolitis, as well as pneumonia, septicemia, and urinary tract and wound infections in adults. Here, we report 26 draft genome sequences of C. sakazakii, which were obtained from dried spices from the USA, the Middle East, China, and the Republic of Korea. The average genome size of the C. sakazakii genomes was 4393 kb, with an average of 4055 protein coding genes, and an average genome G + C content of 56.9%. The genomes contained genes related to carbohydrate transport and metabolism, amino acid transport and metabolism, and cell wall/membrane biogenesis. In addition, we identified genes encoding proteins involved in osmotic responses such as DnaJ, Aquaproin Z, ProQ, and TreF, as well as virulence-related and heat shock-related proteins.Interestingly, a metabolic island comprised of a variably-sized xylose utilization operon was found within the spice-associated C. sakazakii genomes, which supports the hypothesis that plants may serve as transmission vectors or alternative hosts for Cronobacter species. The presence of the genes identified in this study can support the remarkable phenotypic traits of C. sakazakii such as the organism’s capabilities of adaptation and survival in response to adverse growth environmental conditions (e.g. osmotic and desiccative stresses). Accordingly, the genome analyses provided insights into many aspects of physiology and evolutionary history of this important foodborne pathogen.
Highlights
Cronobacter species, formerly known as Enterobacter sakazakii, are a group of opportunistic foodborne bacterial pathogens [1, 2]
Note: Genome statistics for each individual strain is shown in Additional file 1: Table S1 bThe number of genes assigned to clusters of orthologous groups (COGs) by NCBI was 3902 compared to the value (3151 genes) assigned by the JGI IMG pipeline cNCBI pipeline did not have the % total for the CRISPR repeats and pseudo genes dData was obtained from the NCBI, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore reported in this study with representative strains of each species
The channel opens in response to the stretch forces in the membrane lipid bilayer and may participate in the regulation of osmotic pressure changes within the cell. Other proteins such a TreF was found and is thought to provide cells with the ability to utilize trehalose under high osmolarity growth conditions by splitting it into glucose molecules that can subsequently be taken up by the phosphotransferase-mediated uptake system. Another set of proteins encoded by the mdoHGC operon (COG P, MOD1_O23mB locus C5975 _17925, C5975_17930, C5975_17940 in Additional file 3: Table S3), which is involved in the biosynthesis of osmoregulated periplasmic glucans (OPGs), was found to be highly up-regulated in C. sakazakii grown under xerotolerant growth conditions [30]
Summary
Cronobacter species, formerly known as Enterobacter sakazakii, are a group of opportunistic foodborne bacterial pathogens [1, 2]. This work is part of a larger study focused on exploring the microbial diversity of C. sakazakii strains which are associated with foods of plant- origin such as spices; Table 2 describes the project information and its association with minimum information about a genome sequence (MIGS) utilizing its version 2.0 compliance criteria [34].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
