Comparative genomics and evolutionary analysis of Lactococcus garvieae isolated from human endocarditis

Lactococcus garvieae is a well -known pathogen of fish, but is rarely involved in infections in humans and other mammals. In humans, the main clinical manifestation of L. garvieae infections is endocarditis usually related to the ingestion of contaminated food, such as undercooked fish and shellfish. This study presents the first complete genomic sequence of a clinical L. garvieae strain isolated from a patient with endocarditis and its comparative analysis with other genomes. This human isolate contains a circular chromosome of 2 099 060 bp and one plasmid of 50 557 bp. In comparison with other fully sequenced L. garvieae strains, the chromosomal DNA of L. garvieae Lg-Granada carries a low proportion of insertion sequence elements and a higher number of putative prophages. Our results show that, in general, L. garvieae is a highly recombinogenic species with an open pangenome in which almost 30 % of its genome has undergone horizontal transfers. Within the genus Lactococcus, L. lactis is the main donor of genetic components to L. garvieae but, taking Lg-Granada as a representative, this bacterium tends to import more genes from Bacilli taxa than from other Lactococcus species.

Automated summary

Lactococcus garvieae is a well-known pathogen in fish and rarely causes infections in humans and other mammals. This study presents the complete genomic sequence of a clinical L. garvieae strain and compares it with other genomes. The results show that L. garvieae is a highly recombinogenic species with horizontal gene transfers comprising nearly 30% of its genome.