| Title: | BlpC-mediated selfish program leads to rapid loss of Streptococcus pneumoniae clonal diversity during infection |
| Author(s): | Aggarwal SD; Lees JA; Jacobs NT; Bee GCW; Abruzzo AR; Weiser JN; |
| Address: | "Department of Microbiology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA. Electronic address: surya.aggarwal@nyulangone.org. Department of Microbiology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA; European Bioinformatics Institute, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Hinxton CB10 1SD, UK; MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London W12 7TA, UK. Department of Microbiology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA. Department of Microbiology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA. Electronic address: jeffrey.weiser@nyulangone.org" |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.chom.2022.10.015 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1934-6069 (Electronic) 1931-3128 (Print) 1931-3128 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Successful colonization of a host requires bacterial adaptation through genetic and population changes that are incompletely defined. Using chromosomal barcoding and high-throughput sequencing, we investigate the population dynamics of Streptococcus pneumoniae during infant mouse colonization. Within 1 day post inoculation, diversity was reduced >35-fold with expansion of a single clonal lineage. This loss of diversity was not due to immune factors, microbiota, or exclusive genetic drift. Rather, bacteriocins induced by the BlpC-quorum sensing pheromone resulted in predation of kin cells. In this intra-strain competition, the subpopulation reaching a quorum likely eliminates others that have yet to activate the blp locus. Additionally, this reduced diversity restricts the number of unique clones that establish colonization during transmission between hosts. Genetic variation in the blp locus was also associated with altered transmissibility in a human population, further underscoring the importance of BlpC in clonal selection and its role as a selfish element" |
| Keywords: | Humans Animals Mice *Streptococcus pneumoniae/genetics *Bacteriocins/genetics Quorum Sensing Pheromones/genetics bacteriocins chromosomal barcoding colonization diversity intra-strain competition pneumococcus population dynamics transmission; |
| Notes: | "MedlineAggarwal, Surya D Lees, John A Jacobs, Nathan T Bee, Gavyn Chern Wei Abruzzo, Annie R Weiser, Jeffrey N eng R01 AI150893/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ R01 AI050867/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ R37 AI038446/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ T32 AI007180/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ R01 AI038446/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ R21 AI150867/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ 2022/11/18 Cell Host Microbe. 2023 Jan 11; 31(1):124-134.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2022.10.015. Epub 2022 Nov 16" |
