Using crude whole-genome assemblies of Neisseria gonorrhoeae as a platform for strain analysis: clonal spread of gonorrhea infection in Saskatchewan, Canada

Sinisa Vidovic; Carolyn Caron; Ali Taheri; Sidharath D Thakur; Timothy D Read; Anthony Kusalik; Jo-Anne R Dillon

doi:10.1128/JCM.01502-14

Using crude whole-genome assemblies of Neisseria gonorrhoeae as a platform for strain analysis: clonal spread of gonorrhea infection in Saskatchewan, Canada

J Clin Microbiol. 2014 Oct;52(10):3772-6. doi: 10.1128/JCM.01502-14. Epub 2014 Jul 23.

Authors

Sinisa Vidovic¹, Carolyn Caron², Ali Taheri³, Sidharath D Thakur⁴, Timothy D Read⁵, Anthony Kusalik², Jo-Anne R Dillon⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Food and Bioproducts Sciences, College of Agriculture, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
² Department of Computer Science, College of Arts and Science, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
³ Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization, International Vaccine Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
⁴ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
⁵ Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
⁶ Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization, International Vaccine Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada j.dillon@usask.ca.

Abstract

Using crude whole-genome assemblies, we analyzed 25 isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae by using a high-resolution single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) approach for nine housekeeping genes, characterizing penA alleles, and antimicrobial susceptibility phenotypes coupled with population structure analysis. Two clonal complexes, characterized by their spatial and geographical persistence, were identified. In addition, the clonal spread of penicillin-resistant/intermediate phenotypes and a novel introduction of the azithromycin resistance phenotype in Saskatchewan, Canada, were ascertained using this method.

Publication types

Evaluation Study
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Gonorrhea / epidemiology
Gonorrhea / microbiology*
Gonorrhea / transmission*
Humans
Molecular Epidemiology / methods
Molecular Typing / methods*
Neisseria gonorrhoeae / classification*
Neisseria gonorrhoeae / genetics*
Neisseria gonorrhoeae / isolation & purification
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
Saskatchewan / epidemiology
Sequence Analysis, DNA / methods*

Grants and funding

A1096768/PHS HHS/United States