The Murray collection of pre-antibiotic era Enterobacteriacae: a unique research resource

Abstract

Studies of historical isolates inform on the evolution and emergence of important pathogens and phenotypes, including antimicrobial resistance. Crucial to studying antimicrobial resistance are isolates that predate the widespread clinical use of antimicrobials. The Murray collection of several hundred bacterial strains of pre-antibiotic era Enterobacteriaceae is an invaluable resource of historical strains from important pathogen groups. Studies performed on the Collection to date merely exemplify its potential, which will only be realised through the continued effort of many scientific groups. To enable that aim, we announce the public availability of the Murray collection through the National Collection of Type Cultures, and present associated metadata with whole genome sequence data for over half of the strains. Using this information we verify the metadata for the collection with regard to subgroup designations, equivalence groupings and plasmid content. We also present genomic analyses of population structure and determinants of mobilisable antimicrobial resistance to aid strain selection in future studies. This represents an invaluable public resource for the study of these important pathogen groups and the emergence and evolution of antimicrobial resistance.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13073-015-0222-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

pIP40a, a type 1 IncC plasmid from 1969 carries the integrative element GI sul2 and a novel class II mercury resistance transposon

“…The ancestor of the type 1 lineage that contains neither the ARI-A nor the ARI-B islands is still to be discovered. The Murray Collection of preantibiotic era strains recovered as early as 1917 was recently sequenced (Baker et al, 2015). Though it may have been a source of ancestral IncC plasmids, a search of the sequencing metadata showed that no IncC plasmids were detected in the collection.…”

Genomics of Serratia marcescens Isolates Causing Outbreaks in the Same Pediatric Unit 47 Years Apart: Position in an Updated Phylogeny of the Species

“…Historical collections of bacteria provide us with relevant data from the pre-antibiotic period (Baker et al, 2014(Baker et al, , 2015Devault et al, 2014). Our historical isolates were collected from 1969 to 1970 during the antibiotics classic golden age, but they had not been exposed to newly discovered antimicrobials.…”

Looking Backward To Move Forward: the Utility of Sequencing Historical Bacterial Genomes

“…In addition to these growing repositories, one of the most studied historical bacterial collections is the Murray Collection. The Murray Collection comprises several hundred Enterobacteriaceae strains collected in the preantibiotic era (1917 to 1954) from a wide range of geographic areas (32). This now-public collection, held by the NCTC, provides a unique genomic resource to provide insight into an era before the routine use of antibiotics and so is particularly useful for studies investigating the evolution and accumulation of AMR.…”