Origin of modern syphilis and emergence of a pandemic Treponema pallidum cluster
Language English Country Great Britain, England Media electronic
Document type Journal Article
PubMed
27918528
DOI
10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.245
PII: nmicrobiol2016245
Knihovny.cz E-resources
- MeSH
- Anti-Bacterial Agents pharmacology MeSH
- Azithromycin pharmacology MeSH
- Drug Resistance, Bacterial MeSH
- Global Health MeSH
- DNA, Bacterial chemistry genetics isolation & purification MeSH
- Phylogeny MeSH
- Genetic Variation * MeSH
- Genome, Bacterial MeSH
- Genotype * MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Molecular Epidemiology MeSH
- Evolution, Molecular MeSH
- Pandemics * MeSH
- Sequence Analysis, DNA MeSH
- Syphilis epidemiology microbiology MeSH
- Treponema pallidum classification genetics isolation & purification MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Names of Substances
- Anti-Bacterial Agents MeSH
- Azithromycin MeSH
- DNA, Bacterial MeSH
The abrupt onslaught of the syphilis pandemic that started in the late fifteenth century established this devastating infectious disease as one of the most feared in human history1. Surprisingly, despite the availability of effective antibiotic treatment since the mid-twentieth century, this bacterial infection, which is caused by Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum (TPA), has been re-emerging globally in the last few decades with an estimated 10.6 million cases in 2008 (ref. 2). Although resistance to penicillin has not yet been identified, an increasing number of strains fail to respond to the second-line antibiotic azithromycin3. Little is known about the genetic patterns in current infections or the evolutionary origins of the disease due to the low quantities of treponemal DNA in clinical samples and difficulties in cultivating the pathogen4. Here, we used DNA capture and whole-genome sequencing to successfully interrogate genome-wide variation from syphilis patient specimens, combined with laboratory samples of TPA and two other subspecies. Phylogenetic comparisons based on the sequenced genomes indicate that the TPA strains examined share a common ancestor after the fifteenth century, within the early modern era. Moreover, most contemporary strains are azithromycin-resistant and are members of a globally dominant cluster, named here as SS14-Ω. The cluster diversified from a common ancestor in the mid-twentieth century subsequent to the discovery of antibiotics. Its recent phylogenetic divergence and global presence point to the emergence of a pandemic strain cluster.
Center for Bioinformatics University of Tübingen 72076 Tübingen Germany
Department of Biology Faculty of Medicine Masaryk University 625 00 Brno Czech Republic
Department of Dermatology Medical University of Graz A 8036 Graz Austria
Department of Dermatology University Hospital of Zurich 8091 Zurich Switzerland
Institute for Archaeological Sciences University of Tübingen 72070 Tübingen Germany
Servicio de Dermatología Hospital General Universitario de Valencia 46014 Valencia Spain
The Mortimer Market Centre CNWL Camden Provider Services London NW1 2PL UK
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute Wellcome Genome Campus Hinxton Cambridge CB10 1SA UK
Zurich Institute of Forensic Medicine University of Zurich 8057 Zurich Switzerland
References provided by Crossref.org
The hare syphilis agent is related to, but distinct from, the treponeme causing rabbit syphilis
Evolutionary Processes in the Emergence and Recent Spread of the Syphilis Agent, Treponema pallidum
