Genomic insights of the emerging human pathogen sp. nov.

OBJECTIVES

are known as opportunistic human pathogens that can cause a variety of infections. is a novel species associated with appendicitis, whereas their genomic characteristics and virulence potential remain understudied. This study aims to compare the genomic features of to that of the close species, and to assess its virulence-factor encoding capacity as an emerging pathogen.

METHODS

Genomes similar to that of . HZ0627 were retrieved from the PATRIC-v3.6.10 web-server using the implanted Similar Genome Finder tool. Average nucleotide identity (ANI) between HZ0627 and the retrieved genomes was calculated using FastANI-v1.33. Core-genome sequences were extracted using Roary-v3.13.0, and core-genomic tree was constructed using FastTree-v2.1.11. Virulence-factor encoding capacity was predicted using PathoFact-v1.0.

RESULTS

Two previously unclassified sp. strains were reclassified as . Strains phylogenomically close to were clustered into five species, three of which were previously categorized under biogroup 3. Remarkably, genomosp. 6 was identified as the closest species to , exhibiting ANI values ranging from 94.45 % to 94.95 % against HZ0627. Genome annotation revealed shared genomic features and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes between and its phylogenetic neighbors. Additionally, is hypothesized to share infection mechanisms with genomosp. 6, as evidenced by the encoding of numerous virulence factors implicated in cell lysis and membrane pore-formation in the genome of both species.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides genomic insights of sp. nov. and its taxonomic relatives, shedding light on their evolutionary relationships, pathogenic mechanisms, and AMR profiles. The findings are significant for the development of targeted therapeutic interventions against infections caused by this emerging pathogen.