Hinnebusch B Joseph, Chouikha Iman, Sun Yi-Cheng
Laboratory of Zoonotic Pathogens, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, USA
Laboratory of Zoonotic Pathogens, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, USA.
Infect Immun. 2016 Jun 23;84(7):1932-40. doi: 10.1128/IAI.00188-16. Print 2016 Jul.
The plague bacillus Yersinia pestis is unique among the pathogenic Enterobacteriaceae in utilizing an arthropod-borne transmission route. Transmission by fleabite is a recent evolutionary adaptation that followed the divergence of Y. pestis from the closely related food- and waterborne enteric pathogen Yersinia pseudotuberculosis A combination of population genetics, comparative genomics, and investigations of Yersinia-flea interactions have disclosed the important steps in the evolution and emergence of Y. pestis as a flea-borne pathogen. Only a few genetic changes, representing both gene gain by lateral transfer and gene loss by loss-of-function mutation (pseudogenization), were fundamental to this process. The emergence of Y. pestis fits evolutionary theories that emphasize ecological opportunity in adaptive diversification and rapid emergence of new species.
鼠疫杆菌耶尔森氏菌在致病性肠杆菌科细菌中独树一帜，它利用节肢动物传播途径。通过跳蚤叮咬传播是一种近期的进化适应，这一适应发生在鼠疫杆菌与密切相关的通过食物和水传播的肠道病原体假结核耶尔森氏菌分化之后。群体遗传学、比较基因组学以及对耶尔森氏菌与跳蚤相互作用的研究相结合，揭示了鼠疫杆菌作为一种通过跳蚤传播的病原体在进化和出现过程中的重要步骤。在此过程中，只有少数基因变化至关重要，这些变化包括通过横向转移获得基因以及通过功能丧失突变（基因假化）导致基因丢失。鼠疫杆菌的出现符合强调适应性多样化中的生态机遇以及新物种快速出现的进化理论。
