Tan Zhizhou, Xu Lin, Che Jie, Xu Juan, Xu Li, Wang Hairui, Zhang Maojun, Kan Biao, Xu Jianguo, Shao Zhujun
National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Tracking and Forecasting for Infectious Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
School of Public Health, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Ji'nan, People's Republic of China.
Emerg Microbes Infect. 2025 Dec;14(1):2515461. doi: 10.1080/22221751.2025.2515461. Epub 2025 Jun 19.
() is the causative agent of human invasive meningococcal disease (IMD). Clonal complex (CC) 4821 is a unique genetic cluster of that emerged two decades ago in Anhui Province, China and became the predominant cluster. However, the evolutionary origin of CC4821 remains unclear. Herein, a distinct CC4821 clade was identified by a comprehensive cgMLST analysis of 26,801 genomes. The CC4821 clade comprised 388 isolates, with 364 assigned to CC4821, 1 assigned to CC8, and 23 unassigned (UA), as they could not be assigned to any defined CC. The phylogenetic analysis of the CC4821 clade revealed that six UA isolates, including the UA isolate NmR29026 collected in 1966 from Liaoning Province, China, occupied a basal position compared to all isolates within the CC4821 clade, indicating that CC4821 originated in the 1960s. Eight subclades (clades 1-8) were recognized within the CC4821 clade. Clades 1-4 have been present since the 1970s, while clades 5-8 emerged after the 2000s. Clade 5 represents a hyperinvasive lineage. isolate HEB85-3, collected in 1985 in Hebei Province, China, exhibited the closest evolutionary relationship to clade 5, suggesting it is related to the origin of this hyperinvasive lineage. Our study reveals that CC4821 has emerged as the predominant cluster of in China, representing the culmination of at least 60 years of continuous evolution in China, and is not solely attributable to the outbreak two decades ago.
（）是人类侵袭性脑膜炎球菌病（IMD）的病原体。克隆复合体（CC）4821是（该病原体）的一个独特基因簇，于20年前在中国安徽省出现并成为主要的基因簇。然而，CC4821的进化起源仍不清楚。在此，通过对26,801个（该病原体）基因组进行全面的核心多位点序列分型（cgMLST）分析，鉴定出一个独特的CC4821进化枝。CC4821进化枝包含388个（该病原体）分离株，其中364个被归类为CC4821，1个被归类为CC8，23个未归类（UA），因为它们无法被归类到任何已定义的CC中。对CC4821进化枝的系统发育分析表明，包括1966年在中国辽宁省采集的UA分离株NmR29026在内的6个UA分离株，与CC4821进化枝内的所有分离株相比，占据基部位置，表明CC4821起源于20世纪60年代。在CC4821进化枝内识别出8个亚进化枝（进化枝-1至-8）。进化枝-1至-4自20世纪70年代以来就已存在，而进化枝-5至-8在21世纪后出现。进化枝-5代表一个高侵袭性谱系。1985年在中国河北省采集的（该病原体）分离株HEB85-3与进化枝-5表现出最密切的进化关系，表明它与这个高侵袭性谱系的起源有关。我们的研究表明，CC4821已成为中国（该病原体）的主要基因簇，代表了中国至少60年持续进化的结果，并非仅仅归因于20年前的那次暴发。
