Abstract

Campylobacter fetus is a venereal pathogen of cattle and sheep, and an opportunistic human pathogen. It is often assumed that C. fetus infection occurs in humans as a zoonosis through food chain transmission. Here we show that mammalian C. fetus consists of distinct evolutionary lineages, primarily associated with either human or bovine hosts. We use whole-genome phylogenetics on 182 strains from 17 countries to provide evidence that C. fetus may have originated in humans around 10,500 years ago and may have “jumped” into cattle during the livestock domestication period. We detect C. fetus genomes in 8% of healthy human fecal metagenomes, where the human-associated lineages are the dominant type (78%). Thus, our work suggests that C. fetus is an unappreciated human intestinal pathobiont likely spread by human to human transmission. This genome-based evolutionary framework will facilitate C. fetus epidemiology research and the development of improved molecular diagnostics and prevention schemes for this neglected pathogen.

Details

Title
Distinct Campylobacter fetus lineages adapted as livestock pathogens and human pathobionts in the intestinal microbiota
Author
Iraola, Gregorio 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Forster, Samuel C 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Kumar, Nitin 3 ; Lehours, Philippe 4 ; Bekal, Sadjia 5 ; García-Peña, Francisco J 6 ; Paolicchi, Fernando 7 ; Morsella, Claudia 7 ; Hotzel, Helmut 8   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Po-Ren Hsueh 9 ; Vidal, Ana 10 ; Lévesque, Simon 11 ; Yamazaki, Wataru 12 ; Balzan, Claudia 13   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Vargas, Agueda 13 ; Piccirillo, Alessandra 14   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Chaban, Bonnie 15 ; Hill, Janet E 16 ; Betancor, Laura 17 ; Collado, Luis 18   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Truyers, Isabelle 19 ; Midwinter, Anne C 20 ; Dagi, Hatice T 21 ; Mégraud, Francis 4 ; Calleros, Lucía 22 ; Pérez, Ruben 22 ; Naya, Hugo 23   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Lawley, Trevor D 3 

1  Unidad de Bioinformática, Institut Pasteur Montevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay; Sección Genética Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay; Host-Microbiota Interactions Laboratory, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK 
2  Host-Microbiota Interactions Laboratory, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK; Centre for Innate Immunity and Infectious Diseases, Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Clayton, VIC, Australia; Department of Molecular and Translational Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia 
3  Host-Microbiota Interactions Laboratory, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK 
4  Bordeaux Research in Translational Oncology, INSERM UMR1053, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France; French National Reference Center for Campylobacters and Helicobacters, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France 
5  Laboratoire de Santé Publique du Québec, Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada; Départment de Microbiologie, Immunologie et Infectiologie, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada 
6  Departamento de Bacteriología, Laboratorio Central de Veterinaria de Algete (MAGRAMA), Algete, Spain 
7  Laboratorio de Bacteriología, EEA-INTA Balcarce, Balcarce, Argentina 
8  Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Institute of Bacterial Infections and Zoonoses, Jena, Germany 
9  Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan 
10  Animal and Plant Health Association (APHA), Addlestone, UK 
11  Laboratoire de Santé Publique du Québec, Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada 
12  Department of Veterinary Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki, Japan 
13  Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Brazil 
14  Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padova, Padova, Italy 
15  Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, QLD, Australia 
16  Department of Veterinary Microbiology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan, SK, Canada 
17  Instituto de Higiene, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay 
18  Instituto de Bioquímica y Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile 
19  Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Midlothian, UK 
20  EpiLab, Infectious Disease Research Centre, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand 
21  Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Selçuk University, Selçuklu, Turkey 
22  Sección Genética Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay 
23  Unidad de Bioinformática, Institut Pasteur Montevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay; Departamento de Producción Animal y Pasturas, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay 
Pages
1-8
Publication year
2017
Publication date
Nov 2017
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20411723
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01449-9
ProQuest document ID
1961816873
Copyright
© 2017. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.