Department of Biological Sciences, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA.
Department of Molecular, Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA.
Commun Biol. 2023 May 3;6(1):482. doi: 10.1038/s42003-023-04877-0.
Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CoNS) are opportunistic pathogens implicated in many human and animal infections. The evolutionary history of CoNS remains obscure because of the historical lack of recognition for their clinical importance and poor taxonomic sampling. Here, we sequenced the genomes of 191 CoNS isolates representing 15 species sampled from diseased animals diagnosed in a veterinary diagnostic laboratory. We found that CoNS are important reservoirs of diverse phages, plasmids and mobilizable genes encoding antimicrobial resistance, heavy metal resistance, and virulence. Frequent exchange of DNA between certain donor-recipient partners suggests that specific lineages act as hubs of gene sharing. We also detected frequent recombination between CoNS regardless of their animal host species, indicating that ecological barriers to horizontal gene transfer can be surmounted in co-circulating lineages. Our findings reveal frequent but structured patterns of transfer that exist within and between CoNS species, which are driven by their overlapping ecology and geographical proximity.
凝固酶阴性葡萄球菌（CoNS）是一种机会性病原体，与许多人类和动物感染有关。由于历史上对其临床重要性认识不足和分类采样不佳，CoNS 的进化史仍然不清楚。在这里，我们对 191 株 CoNS 分离株的基因组进行了测序，这些分离株代表了从兽医诊断实验室诊断出的患病动物中分离出的 15 个种。我们发现 CoNS 是多种噬菌体、质粒和可移动基因的重要储库，这些基因编码了抗微生物药物抗性、重金属抗性和毒力。某些供体-受体之间频繁的 DNA 交换表明，特定谱系是基因共享的中心。我们还检测到 CoNS 之间频繁的重组，无论其动物宿主种类如何，这表明在共同循环的谱系中，水平基因转移的生态障碍可以被克服。我们的研究结果揭示了 CoNS 内部和之间存在的频繁但有结构的转移模式，这些模式是由它们重叠的生态和地理接近性驱动的。
