Emergence and global spread of Listeria monocytogenes main clinical clonal complex

Alexandra Moura (1, 2, 3) , Noémie Lefrancq (4) , Thierry Wirth (5, 6) , Alexandre Leclercq (1, 2, 3) , Vítor Borges (7) , Brent Gilpin (8) , Timothy J. Dallman (9) , Joachim Frey (10) , Eelco Franz (11) , Eva M. Nielsen (12) , Juno Thomas (13) , Arthur Pightling (14) , Benjamin P. Howden (15, 16) , Cheryl L. Tarr (17) , Peter Gerner-Smidt (17) , Simon Cauchemez (4) , Henrik Salje (4) , Sylvain Brisse (18) , Marc Lecuit (1, 2, 3, 19, 20) , The Listeria Cc1 Study Group

1 Biologie des Infections - Biology of Infection
2 CNR - Centre National de Référence Listeria - National Reference Center Listeria
3 CC-OMS / WHO-CC - Centre collaborateur de l'OMS Listeria / WHO Collaborating Centre Listeria
4 Modélisation mathématique des maladies infectieuses - Mathematical modelling of Infectious Diseases
5 ISYEB - Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité
6 EPHE - École Pratique des Hautes Études
7 INSA - Instituto Nacional de Saùde Dr Ricardo Jorge [Portugal]
8 Institute of Environmental Science and Research Limited
9 Public Health England [London]
10 UNIBE - Universität Bern / University of Bern
11 RIVM - National Institute for Public Health and the Environment [Bilthoven]
12 Statens Serum Institut [Copenhagen]
13 NICD - National Institute for Communicable Diseases [Johannesburg]
14 FDA - U.S. Food and Drug Administration
15 University of Melbourne
16 Austin Health
17 CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [Atlanta]
18 Biodiversité et Epidémiologie des Bactéries pathogènes - Biodiversity and Epidemiology of Bacterial Pathogens
19 Imagine - U1163 - Imagine - Institut des maladies génétiques (IHU)
20 Hôpital Necker - Enfants Malades [AP-HP]

The bacterial foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes clonal complex 1 (Lm-CC1) is the most prevalent clonal group associated with human listeriosis and is strongly associated with cattle and dairy products. Here, we analyze 2021 isolates collected from 40 countries, covering Lm-CC1 first isolation to present days, to define its evolutionary history and population dynamics. We show that Lm-CC1 spread worldwide from North America following the Industrial Revolution through two waves of expansion, coinciding with the transatlantic livestock trade in the second half of the 19th century and the rapid growth of cattle farming and food industrialization in the 20th century. In sharp contrast to its global spread over the past century, transmission chains are now mostly local, with limited inter- and intra-country spread. This study provides an unprecedented insight into L. monocytogenes phylogeography and population dynamics and highlights the importance of genome analyses for a better control of pathogen transmission.

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]; Médecine humaine et pathologie; Maladies infectieuses; Microbiologie et Parasitologie; Bactériologie

Alexandra Moura, Noémie Lefrancq, Thierry Wirth, Alexandre Leclercq, Vítor Borges, et al.. Emergence and global spread of Listeria monocytogenes main clinical clonal complex. Science Advances , 2021, 7 (49), pp.eabj9805. ⟨10.1126/sciadv.abj9805⟩. ⟨pasteur-03696138v2⟩