Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 107, Issue 16, Pages 7527-7532Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0914322107
Keywords
homologous recombination; horizontal gene transfer; single nucleotide polymorphism
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Funding
- Wellcome Trust
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [EP/E500412/1] Funding Source: researchfish
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Clostridium difficile has rapidly emerged as the leading cause of antibiotic-associated diarrheal disease, with the transcontinental spread of various PCR ribotypes, including 001, 017, 027 and 078. However, the genetic basis for the emergence of C. difficile as a human pathogen is unclear. Whole genome sequencing was used to analyze genetic variation and virulence of a diverse collection of thirty C. difficile isolates, to determine both macro and microevolution of the species. Horizontal gene transfer and large-scale recombination of core genes has shaped the C. difficile genome over both short and long time scales. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrates C. difficile is a genetically diverse species, which has evolved within the last 1.1-85 million years. By contrast, the disease-causing isolates have arisen from multiple lineages, suggesting that virulence evolved independently in the highly epidemic lineages.
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