Population structure of Neisseria gonorrhoeae based on whole genome data and its relationship with antibiotic resistance
Matthew N. Ezewudo,
Sandeep J. Joseph,
Santiago Castillo-Ramirez,
Deborah Dean,
Carlos del Rio,
Xavier Didelot,
Jo-Anne Dillon,
Richard F. Selden,
William M. Shafer,
Rosemary S. Turingan,
Magnus Unemo,
Timothy D. Read
Affiliations
Matthew N. Ezewudo
Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
Sandeep J. Joseph
Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
Santiago Castillo-Ramirez
Programa de Genómica Evolutiva, Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos, México
Deborah Dean
Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, Oakland, CA, USA
Carlos del Rio
Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
Xavier Didelot
Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, UK
Jo-Anne Dillon
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization International Vaccine Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Richard F. Selden
NetBio, Waltham, MA, USA
William M. Shafer
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
Rosemary S. Turingan
NetBio, Waltham, MA, USA
Magnus Unemo
WHO Collaborating Centre for Gonorrhoea and other STIs, Örebro University Hospital, Örebro, Sweden
Timothy D. Read
Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
Neisseria gonorrhoeae is the causative agent of gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted infection (STI) of major importance. As a result of antibiotic resistance, there are now limited options for treating patients. We collected draft genome sequence data and associated metadata data on 76 N. gonorrhoeae strains from around the globe and searched for known determinants of antibiotics resistance within the strains. The population structure and evolutionary forces within the pathogen population were analyzed. Our results indicated a cosmopolitan gonoccocal population mainly made up of five subgroups. The estimated ratio of recombination to mutation (r/m = 2.2) from our data set indicates an appreciable level of recombination occurring in the population. Strains with resistance phenotypes to more recent antibiotics (azithromycin and cefixime) were mostly found in two of the five population subgroups.
