1. Use of Genomics to Investigate Historical Importation of Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli Serogroup O26 and Nontoxigenic Variants into New Zealand.
- Author
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Browne AS, Biggs PJ, Wilkinson DA, Cookson AL, Midwinter AC, Bloomfield SJ, Hranac CR, Rogers LE, Marshall JC, Benschop J, Withers H, Hathaway S, George T, Jaros P, Irshad H, Fong Y, Dufour M, Karki N, Winkleman T, and French NP
- Subjects
- Computational Biology methods, Databases, Genetic, Drug Resistance, Bacterial, Escherichia coli Infections transmission, Evolution, Molecular, Global Health, Humans, Molecular Sequence Annotation, New Zealand epidemiology, Phylogeny, Serogroup, Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia coli drug effects, Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia coli isolation & purification, Escherichia coli Infections epidemiology, Escherichia coli Infections microbiology, Genetic Variation, Genome, Bacterial, Genomics methods, Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia coli classification, Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia coli genetics
- Abstract
Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli serogroup O26 is an important public health pathogen. Phylogenetic bacterial lineages in a country can be associated with the level and timing of international imports of live cattle, the main reservoir. We sequenced the genomes of 152 E. coli O26 isolates from New Zealand and compared them with 252 E. coli O26 genomes from 14 other countries. Gene variation among isolates from humans, animals, and food was strongly associated with country of origin and stx toxin profile but not isolation source. Time of origin estimates indicate serogroup O26 sequence type 21 was introduced at least 3 times into New Zealand from the 1920s to the 1980s, whereas nonvirulent O26 sequence type 29 strains were introduced during the early 2000s. New Zealand's remarkably fewer introductions of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O26 compared with other countries (such as Japan) might be related to patterns of trade in live cattle.
- Published
- 2019
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