PUBLICATION

Genome-wide association study identifies the virulence-associated marker in Streptococcus suis serotype 2

Authors
Guo, G., Kong, X., Du, D., Wei, D., Yu, Y., Zhang, W.
ID
ZDB-PUB-210509-4
Date
2021
Source
Infection, genetics and evolution : journal of molecular epidemiology and evolutionary genetics in infectious diseases   92: 104894 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Keywords
Genome-wide association study, Internal standard, Streptococcus suis, Virulence
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Genetic Markers
  • Genome-Wide Association Study
  • Streptococcus suis/genetics*
  • Streptococcus suis/physiology
  • Virulence Factors/genetics*
  • Zebrafish
PubMed
33964473 Full text @ Infect. Genet. Evol.
Abstract
Streptococcus suis (S. suis) has been reported to be a highly invasive pathogen in swine, which causes severe infections like meningitis, arthritis and septicemia, and also a zoonotic agent for humans. Although many putative virulence factors (VFs) have been identified, the exact and wildly accepted virulence associated marker and pathogenesis mechanism of S. suis are still unclear. To establish connection of the genotypes with virulence phenotypes, we performed an "internal standard" method based on the zebrafish model to assess the virulence phenotypes of S. suis and did the genome-wide association study (GWAS) based on the genomes of 68 S. suis isolates. Through GWAS, a total number of 172 genes were identified. Among these genes, 143 of them distribute in virulent isolates. Further VFs interaction network analysis based on protein-protein interaction database found that 71 genes identified in this study could interact with known VFs and some of them even played an important role as the bridge between known VFs or formed important hub. In addition, 12 genes were found conserved in virulent isolates and 3 genes were conserved in avirulent isolates, 8 genes of the virulent conserved genes were belonging to a srtBCD pili cluster. Considering that sbp2', a member of the srtBCD pili cluster has been reported as a virulence-associated factor, we predict that sbp2' could be a fitness virulence-associated marker of virulent isolates. Taken together, our findings contribute to the insights in S. suis pathogenesis, enhance the knowledge of the genomic evolution of S. suis and provide several novel virulence-associated candidates.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping