Abstract
The bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei causes melioidosis, which is mainly associated with tropical areas. We analyzed single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) among genome sequences from isolates of B. pseudomallei that originated in the Western Hemisphere by comparing them with genome sequences of isolates that originated in the Eastern Hemisphere. Analysis indicated that isolates from the Western Hemisphere form a distinct clade, which supports the hypothesis that these isolates were derived from a constricted seeding event from Africa. Subclades have been resolved that are associated with specific regions within the Western Hemisphere and suggest that isolates might be correlated geographically with cases of melioidosis. One isolate associated with a former World War II prisoner of war was believed to represent illness 62 years after exposure in Southeast Asia. However, analysis suggested the isolate originated in Central or South America.
Highlights
The bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei causes melioidosis, which is mainly associated with tropical areas
A study by Pearson et al based on multilocus sequence typing (MLST) data and analysis of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from whole genome sequences indicated that B. pseudomallei originated on the Australian continent because of the high level of genetic diversity seen in isolates from this region
A dendrogram based on maximum-parsimony from analysis of core SNPs showed a distinct clade for genomes with an origin in the Western Hemisphere that branches off a node in common with genomes from isolates associated with Africa (Figure, https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/EID/ article/23/7/16-1978-F1.htm)
Summary
The bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei causes melioidosis, which is mainly associated with tropical areas. A study by Pearson et al based on multilocus sequence typing (MLST) data and analysis of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from whole genome sequences indicated that B. pseudomallei originated on the Australian continent because of the high level of genetic diversity seen in isolates from this region. They proposed that B. pseudomallei was transferred to Southeast Asia and from there was disseminated to other regions of the world [4]. Because of limited diversity detected by these methods, we hypothesized that a genetic bottleneck was associated with isolates from the Western Hemisphere [5]
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