Whole genome-based population biology and epidemiological surveillance of Listeria monocytogenes

Alexandra Moura (1, 2) , Alexis Criscuolo (3) , Hannes Pouseele (4) , Mylène M. Maury (2) , Alexandre Leclercq (2) , Cheryl Tarr (5) , Jonas T. Björkman (6) , Timothy Dallman (7) , Aleisha Reimer (8) , Vincent Enouf (9) , Elise Larsonneur (10, 1, 3) , Heather Carleton (5) , Hélène Bracq-Dieye (2) , Lee S. Katz (5) , Louis Jones (3) , Marie Touchon (1) , Mathieu Tourdjman (11) , Matthew Walker (8) , Steven Stroika (5) , Thomas Cantinelli (2) , Viviane Chenal-Francisque (2) , Zuzana Kucerova (5) , Eduardo P. C. Rocha (1) , Celine Nadon (7) , Kathie Grant (7) , Eva M. Nielsen (6) , Bruno Pot (4) , Peter Gerner-Smidt (5) , Marc Lecuit (2, 12, 13, 14, 15) , Sylvain Brisse (1)

1 Génomique évolutive des Microbes / Microbial Evolutionary Genomics
2 CNRL - Centre National de Référence Listeria - National Reference Center Listeria
3 Hub Bioinformatique et Biostatistique - Bioinformatics and Biostatistics HUB
4 Applied-Maths
5 CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [Atlanta]
6 Statens Serum Institut [Copenhagen]
7 Public Health England [London]
8 Public Health Agency of Canada
9 PIBNet - Pasteur International Bioresources network
10 IFB-CORE - Institut Français de Bioinformatique - UMS CNRS 3601
11 INVS - Institut de Veille Sanitaire
12 CC-OMS / WHO-CC - Centre collaborateur de l'OMS Listeria / WHO Collaborating Centre Listeria
13 Biologie des Infections - Biology of Infection
14 UPD5 - Université Paris Descartes - Paris 5
15 CHU Necker - Enfants Malades [AP-HP]

Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) is a major human foodborne pathogen. Numerous Lm outbreaks have been reported worldwide and associated with a high case fatality rate, reinforcing the need for strongly coordinated surveillance and outbreak control. We developed a universally applicable genome-wide strain genotyping approach and investigated the population diversity of Lm using 1,696 isolates from diverse sources and geographical locations. We define, with unprecedented precision, the population structure of Lm, demonstrate the occurrence of international circulation of strains and reveal the extent of heterogeneity in virulence and stress resistance genomic features among clinical and food isolates. Using historical isolates, we show that the evolutionary rate of Lm from lineage I and lineage II is low (∼2.5 × 10-7 substitutions per site per year, as inferred from the core genome) and that major sublineages (corresponding to so-called 'epidemic clones') are estimated to be at least 50-150 years old. This work demonstrates the urgent need to monitor Lm strains at the global level and provides the unified approach needed for global harmonization of Lm genome-based typing and population biology.

Domains: Santé publique et épidémiologie

Alexandra Moura, Alexis Criscuolo, Hannes Pouseele, Mylène M. Maury, Alexandre Leclercq, et al.. Whole genome-based population biology and epidemiological surveillance of Listeria monocytogenes. Nature Microbiology, 2016, 2, pp.16185. ⟨10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.185⟩. ⟨pasteur-01415883⟩