Chiaverini Alexandra, Abdel-Glil Mostafa Y, Linde Jörg, Galante Domenico, Rondinone Valeria, Fasanella Antonio, Cammà Cesare, D'Alterio Nicola, Garofolo Giuliano, Tomaso Herbert
National Reference Center for Whole Genome Sequencing of Microbial Pathogens: Database and Bioinformatic Analysis, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise "G. Caporale", 64100 Teramo, Italy.
Institute for Bacterial Infections and Zoonoses, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, 07743 Jena, Germany.
Microorganisms. 2020 Jan 8;8(1):87. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms8010087.
Anthrax is a serious infectious disease caused by the gram-positive and spore-forming bacterium . In Italy, anthrax is an endemic disease with sporadic cases each year and few outbreaks, especially in Southern Italy. However, new foci have been discovered in zones without previous history of anthrax. During summer 2016, an outbreak of anthrax caused the death of four goats in the Abruzzo region, where the disease had not been reported before. In order to investigate the outbreak, we sequenced one strain and compared it to 19 Italian genomes. Furthermore, we downloaded 71 whole genome sequences representing the global distribution of canonical SNP lineages and used them to verify the phylogenetic positioning. To this end, we analyzed and compared the genome sequences using canonical SNPs and the whole genome SNP-based analysis. Our results demonstrate that the outbreak strain belonged to the Trans-Eurasian (TEA) group A.Br.011/009, which is the predominant clade in Central-Southern Italy. In conclusion, the high genomic relatedness of the Italian TEA strains suggests their evolution from a common ancestor, while the spread is supposedly driven by trade as well as human and transhumance activities. Here, we demonstrated the capabilities of whole genome sequencing (WGS), which can be used as a tool for outbreak analyses and surveillance activities.
炭疽是一种由革兰氏阳性且形成孢子的细菌引起的严重传染病。在意大利，炭疽是一种地方病，每年有散发病例且很少暴发，尤其在意大利南部。然而，在以前没有炭疽病史的地区发现了新的疫源地。2016年夏季，阿布鲁佐地区暴发了炭疽疫情，导致4只山羊死亡，该地区此前未曾报告过这种疾病。为了调查此次疫情，我们对一个菌株进行了测序，并将其与19个意大利基因组进行了比较。此外，我们下载了71个代表典型单核苷酸多态性（SNP）谱系全球分布的全基因组序列，并利用它们来验证系统发育定位。为此，我们使用典型SNP和基于全基因组SNP的分析方法对基因组序列进行了分析和比较。我们的结果表明，疫情菌株属于跨欧亚（TEA）A.Br.011/009组，这是意大利中南部的主要进化枝。总之，意大利TEA菌株的高基因组相关性表明它们是由一个共同祖先进化而来的，而其传播可能是由贸易以及人类和游牧活动驱动的。在此，我们展示了全基因组测序（WGS）的能力，它可作为疫情分析和监测活动的一种工具。
