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Severe infections emerge from commensal bacteria by adaptive evolution.

eLife | 2017

Bacteria responsible for the greatest global mortality colonize the human microbiota far more frequently than they cause severe infections. Whether mutation and selection among commensal bacteria are associated with infection is unknown. We investigated de novo mutation in 1163 Staphylococcus aureus genomes from 105 infected patients with nose colonization. We report that 72% of infections emerged from the nose, with infecting and nose-colonizing bacteria showing parallel adaptive differences. We found 2.8-to-3.6-fold adaptive enrichments of protein-altering variants in genes responding to rsp, which regulates surface antigens and toxin production; agr, which regulates quorum-sensing, toxin production and abscess formation; and host-derived antimicrobial peptides. Adaptive mutations in pathogenesis-associated genes were 3.1-fold enriched in infecting but not nose-colonizing bacteria. None of these signatures were observed in healthy carriers nor at the species-level, suggesting infection-associated, short-term, within-host selection pressures. Our results show that signatures of spontaneous adaptive evolution are specifically associated with infection, raising new possibilities for diagnosis and treatment.

Pubmed ID: 29256859 RIS Download

Research resources used in this publication

None found

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Associated grants

  • Agency: Wellcome Trust, United Kingdom
    Id: 101611/Z/13/Z
  • Agency: Wellcome Trust, United Kingdom
    Id: 102541/Z/13/Z
  • Agency: Wellcome Trust, United Kingdom
    Id: WT098615/Z/12/Z
  • Agency: Medical Research Council, United Kingdom
    Id: MC_PC_15060
  • Agency: Wellcome Trust, United Kingdom
    Id: 101237/Z/13/Z
  • Agency: Medical Research Council, United Kingdom
    Id: MR/K023985/1
  • Agency: Wellcome Trust, United Kingdom
  • Agency: Wellcome Trust, United Kingdom
    Id: 090532/Z/09/Z
  • Agency: Department of Health, United Kingdom
    Id: HICF-T5-358

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This is a list of tools and resources that we have found mentioned in this publication.


BioCyc (tool)

RRID:SCR_002298

A collection of Pathway/Genome Databases which describes the genome and metabolic pathways of a single organism. The BioCyc collection of Pathway/Genome Databases (PGDBs) provides an electronic reference source on the genomes and metabolic pathways of sequenced organisms. BioCyc PGDBs are generated by software that predicts the metabolic pathway complements of completely sequenced organisms from their genome sequences. They also include the results of a number of other computational inference procedures applied to these genomes, including predictions of which genes code for missing enzymes in metabolic pathways, and predicted operons. The BioCyc Web site provides a suite of software tools for database searching and visualization, for omics data analysis, and for comparative genomics and comparative pathway questions. The databases within the BioCyc collection are organized into tiers according to the amount of manual review and updating they have received. Tier 1 PGDBs have been created through intensive manual efforts, and receive continuous updating. Tier 2 PGDBs were computationally generated by the PathoLogic program, and have undergone moderate amounts of review and updating. Tier 3 PGDBs were computationally generated by the PathoLogic program, and have undergone no review and updating. There are 967 DBs in Tier 3. The downloadable version of BioCyc that includes the Pathway Tools software provides more speed and power than the BioCyc Web site.

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GenBank (tool)

RRID:SCR_002760

NIH genetic sequence database that provides annotated collection of all publicly available DNA sequences for almost 280 000 formally described species (Jan 2014) .These sequences are obtained primarily through submissions from individual laboratories and batch submissions from large-scale sequencing projects, including whole-genome shotgun (WGS) and environmental sampling projects. Most submissions are made using web-based BankIt or standalone Sequin programs, and GenBank staff assigns accession numbers upon data receipt. It is part of International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration and daily data exchange with European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) and DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) ensures worldwide coverage. GenBank is accessible through NCBI Entrez retrieval system, which integrates data from major DNA and protein sequence databases along with taxonomy, genome, mapping, protein structure and domain information, and biomedical journal literature via PubMed. BLAST provides sequence similarity searches of GenBank and other sequence databases. Complete bimonthly releases and daily updates of GenBank database are available by FTP.

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NCBI BioProject (tool)

RRID:SCR_004801

Database of biological data related to a single initiative, originating from a single organization or from a consortium. A BioProject record provides users a single place to find links to the diverse data types generated for that project. It is a searchable collection of complete and incomplete (in-progress) large-scale sequencing, assembly, annotation, and mapping projects for cellular organisms. Submissions are supported by a web-based Submission Portal. The database facilitates organization and classification of project data submitted to NCBI, EBI and DDBJ databases that captures descriptive information about research projects that result in high volume submissions to archival databases, ties together related data across multiple archives and serves as a central portal by which to inform users of data availability. BioProject records link to corresponding data stored in archival repositories. The BioProject resource is a redesigned, expanded, replacement of the NCBI Genome Project resource. The redesign adds tracking of several data elements including more precise information about a project''''s scope, material, and objectives. Genome Project identifiers are retained in the BioProject as the ID value for a record, and an Accession number has been added. Database content is exchanged with other members of the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration (INSDC). BioProject is accessible via FTP.

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Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (tool)

RRID:SCR_003199

Software package for interpreting gene expression data. Used for interpretation of a large-scale experiment by identifying pathways and processes.

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KEGG (tool)

RRID:SCR_012773

Integrated database resource consisting of 16 main databases, broadly categorized into systems information, genomic information, and chemical information. In particular, gene catalogs in completely sequenced genomes are linked to higher-level systemic functions of cell, organism, and ecosystem. Analysis tools are also available. KEGG may be used as reference knowledge base for biological interpretation of large-scale datasets generated by sequencing and other high-throughput experimental technologies.

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