Abstract
To our knowledge, the phylodistribution of M. hominis clinical strains associated with various pathological conditions of the urogenital tract has not been explored hitherto. Here we analyzed the genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships among 59 M. hominis Tunisian clinical isolates, categorized as gynecological infections- or infertility-associated pathotypes. For this purpose, we developed an expanded multilocus sequence typing (eMLST) scheme, combining the previously reported multilocus sequence typing (MLST) loci (gyrB, tuf, ftsY, uvrA, gap) with a new selected set of putative virulence genes (p120’, vaa, lmp1, lmp3, p60), referred herein to as multi-virulence-locus sequence typing (MVLST) loci. In doing so, M. hominis population was segregated into two distinct genetic lineages, which were differentially associated with each pathotype. Such a clear dichotomy was supported by several phylogenetic and population genetic analysis tools. Recombination was found to take place, but not sufficient enough to break down the overall clonal population structure of M. hominis, most likely as a result of purifying selection, which accommodated the most fit clones. In sum, and owing to the eMLST scheme described herein, we provide insightful data on the phylogenetics of M. hominis, arguing for the existence of genetically differentiable urogenital pathotypes.
Highlights
Mycoplasma hominis, which belongs to the Mycoplasmataceae family, in the Mollicutes class, was the first mycoplasma species isolated from humans in 19371
We sought here to develop an expanded multilocus sequence typing scheme, which included both housekeeping genes and a set of putative virulence loci, and to assess its ability to distinguish between M. hominis clinical strains associated with gynecological infections or infertility
The H value ranged from 0.7 to 0.907, and the ratio dN/dS varied from 0.0843 to 0.2741, which suggests that the virulence genes evolved under purifying selection
Summary
Mycoplasma hominis, which belongs to the Mycoplasmataceae family, in the Mollicutes class, was the first mycoplasma species isolated from humans in 19371. Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) assay, targeting housekeeping genes, was found faster and easier to perform, and it exhibited a higher discriminatory power than did other subtyping methods[15] It was first proposed in 1998 for the characterization of isolates of the human pathogen Neisseria meningitidis[16], and has subsequently been applied to the epidemiologic studies of several bacterial species including mycoplasmas, such as Mycoplasma agalactiae, Mycoplasma bovis, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and Mycoplasma synoviae[17,18,19]. As far as could be ascertained, none of the existing typing approaches has shown the potential to reliably categorize M. hominis isolates according to their involvement in particular pathological conditions Towards this purpose, we sought here to develop an expanded multilocus sequence typing (eMLST) scheme, which included both housekeeping genes and a set of putative virulence loci, and to assess its ability to distinguish between M. hominis clinical strains associated with gynecological infections or infertility
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