Establishment of the European meningococcal strain collection genome library (EMSC-GL) for the 2011 to 2012 epidemiological year.

Holly B. Bratcher (1) , Carina Brehony (1, 2) , Sigrid Heuberger (3) , Despo Pieridou-Bagatzouni (4) , Pavla Křížová (5) , Steen Hoffmann (6) , Maija Toropainen (7) , Muhamed-Kheir Taha (8) , Heike Claus (9) , Georgina Tzanakaki (10) , Tímea Erdôsi (11) , Jelena Galajeva (12) , Arie van Der Ende (13) , Anna Skoczyńska (14) , Marina Pana (15) , Alena Vaculíková (16) , Metka Paragi (17) , Martin Cj Maiden (1) , Dominique A Caugant (18)

1 University of Oxford
2 NUI Galway - National University of Ireland [Galway]
3 Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES)
4 Nicosia General Hospital
5 National Institute of Public Health [Prague]
6 Statens Serum Institut [Copenhagen]
7 National Institute of Public Health and Welfare [Helsinki]
8 IP - Institut Pasteur [Paris]
9 JMU - Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
10 National Meningitis Reference Laboratory
11 OEK - National Center for Epidemiology - Országos Epidemiológiai Központ [Budapest]
12 Riga East University Hospital
13 UvA - University of Amsterdam [Amsterdam]
14 NIL - National Medicines Institute - Narodowy Instytut Leków [Warsaw]
15 National Institute of Research and Development for Microbiology and Immunology [Bucharest]
16 Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic
17 National Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia
18 NIPH - Norwegian Institute of Public Health [Oslo]

Invasive meningococcal disease surveillance in Europe combines isolate characterisation and epidemiological data to support public health intervention. A representative European Meningococcal Strain Collection (EMSC) of IMD isolates was obtained, and whole genome sequenced to characterise 799 EMSC isolates from the epidemiological year July 2011-June 2012. To establish a genome library (GL), the isolate information was deposited in the pubMLST.org/neisseria database. Genomes were curated and annotated at 2,429 meningococcal loci, including those defining clonal complex, capsule, antigens, and antimicrobial resistance. Most genomes contained genes encoding B (n = 525; 65.7%) or C (n = 163; 20.4%) capsules; isolates were genetically highly diverse, with >20 genomic lineages, five of which comprising 60.7% (n = 485) of isolates. There were >350 antigenic fine-types: 307 were present once, the most frequent (P1.7-2,4:F5-1) comprised 8% (n = 64) of isolates. Each genome was characterised for Bexsero Antigen Sequence Typing (BAST): 25.5% (n = 204) of isolates contained alleles encoding the fHbp and/or the PorA VR1 vaccine component, but most genomes (n = 513; 64.2%) did not contain the NadA component. EMSC-GL will support an integrated surveillance of disease-associated genotypes in Europe, enabling the monitoring of hyperinvasive lineages, outbreak identification, and supporting vaccine programme implementation.

Keywords: monitor vaccine coverage; surveillance; track antimicrobial susceptibility; genome library; Neisseria meningitidis

Domains: Santé publique et épidémiologie; Bacteriology

Holly B. Bratcher, Carina Brehony, Sigrid Heuberger, Despo Pieridou-Bagatzouni, Pavla Křížová, et al.. Establishment of the European meningococcal strain collection genome library (EMSC-GL) for the 2011 to 2012 epidemiological year.. Eurosurveillance, 2018, 23 (20), ⟨10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2018.23.20.17-00474⟩. ⟨pasteur-02013211⟩