Our findings provide novel insights into the genetic basis of the AIEC pathotype, supporting the concept that AIEC are equipped to exploit and promote intestinal inflammation and reveal potential targets for intervention against AIEC and inflammation-associated dysbiosis.

BackgroundStaphylococcus belongs to the Gram-positive low G + C content group of the Firmicutes division of bacteria. Staphylococcus aureus is an important human and veterinary pathogen that causes a broad spectrum of diseases, and has developed important multidrug resistant forms such as methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Staphylococcus simiae was isolated from South American squirrel monkeys in 2000, and is a coagulase-negative bacterium, closely related, and possibly the sister group, to S. aureus. Comparative genomic analyses of closely related bacteria with different phenotypes can provide information relevant to understanding adaptation to host environment and mechanisms of pathogenicity.ResultsWe determined a Roche/454 draft genome sequence for S. simiae and included it in comparative genomic analyses with 11 other Staphylococcus species including S. aureus. A genome based phylogeny of the genus confirms that S. simiae is the sister group to S. aureus and indicates that the most basal Staphylococcus lineage is Staphylococcus pseudintermedius, followed by Staphylococcus carnosus. Given the primary niche of these two latter taxa, compared to the other species in the genus, this phylogeny suggests that human adaptation evolved after the split of S. carnosus. The two coagulase-positive species (S. aureus and S. pseudintermedius) are not phylogenetically closest but share many virulence factors exclusively, suggesting that these genes were acquired by horizontal transfer. Enrichment in genes related to mobile elements such as prophage in S. aureus relative to S. simiae suggests that pathogenesis in the S. aureus group has developed by gene gain through horizontal transfer, after the split of S. aureus and S. simiae from their common ancestor.ConclusionsComparative genomic analyses across 12 Staphylococcus species provide hypotheses about lineages in which human adaptation has taken place and contributions of horizontal transfer in pathogenesis.

Comparative genomics of closely related bacterial species with different pathogenesis and host preference can provide a means of identifying the specifics of adaptive differences. Streptococcus dysgalactiae (SD) is comprised of two subspecies: S. dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis is both a human commensal organism and a human pathogen, and S. dysgalactiae subsp. dysgalactiae is strictly an animal pathogen. Here, we present complete genome sequences for both taxa, with analyses involving other species of Streptococcus but focusing on adaptation in the SD species group. We found little evidence for enrichment in biochemical categories of genes carried by each SD strain, however, differences in the virulence gene repertoire were apparent. Some of the differences could be ascribed to prophage and integrative conjugative elements. We identified approximately 9% of the nonrecombinant core genome to be under positive selection, some of which involved known virulence factors in other bacteria. Analyses of proteomes by pooling data across genes, by biochemical category, clade, or branch, provided evidence for increased rates of evolution in several gene categories, as well as external branches of the tree. Promoters were primarily evolving under purifying selection but with certain categories of genes evolving faster. Many of these fast-evolving categories were the same as those associated with rapid evolution in proteins. Overall, these results suggest that adaptation to changing environments and new hosts in the SD species group has involved the acquisition of key virulence genes along with selection of orthologous protein-coding loci and operon promoters.