研究人员采用了全基因组测序来揭示，在不同丹麦农场上爆发的两次疾病事件中，抗药细菌是否从动物传播到了人类。目前在期刊EMBO Molecular Medicine中发布的结果表明，动物可以向人传播耐甲氧西林金黄色酿脓葡萄球菌，这是一种致病性细菌，它可以携带一种最近称之为mecC的基因。MecC基因负责阻扰抗菌性甲氧西林。

 

具有抗药性的细菌感染对公众健康提出了很大的挑战，它有有时会产生非常严重甚至是致命的后果。由于全部基因组序列测定方式的费用直线下降，以及分析的进度持续加快，科学家越来越倾向于通过采用全基因组测序解决与疾病相关的问题。

 

该论文的主要作者、来自剑桥大学的学者Mark Holmes认为：“通过采用全基因组测序方法，我们可以确定是否两次疾病爆发都是由同一细菌造成的，并且可以检测出是动物向人传播病原体，还是人向动物传播病原体。初看起来，我们有理由相信相邻地理位置两次疾病爆发都是由同一病原体造成的。但是，通过比较不同地区患病主体DNA排序中的核苷酸或者单核苷酸多态性的差别，我们可以非常明显地发现，两种不同菌株是两次疾病爆发的罪魁祸首。在某些情形下，结果还清楚表明传播最可能的方向是从动物到人。”

 

耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌会导致皮肤衰竭和软组织感染，出现患有菌血症、肺炎和心内膜炎的症状。研究人员采用了一种IlluminaHiSeq测序平台观察每一种病原体的核苷酸测序。通过比较两种排序中核苷酸的差异（单一核苷酸多态性），研究人员可以得出结论并确定病原体和感染路径。

 

研究人员强调，虽然全基因组测序方法无法取代其他更为传统的疾病分析方法，但可以极大地提升科学家区分不同病原体致病原因的能力。

 

本项研究的主要作者之一Ewan Harrison表示：“我们调查结果证明，我们曾经研究过的耐甲氧西林金黄色酿脓葡萄球菌菌株，可以在动物与人之间传播，由此我们更清楚地看到，牲畜是抗生素耐受性细菌的潜在温床。”

 

全基因组测序确定了具有新颖mecA同源性mecC的耐甲氧西林金黄色酿脓葡萄球菌隔离群的动物源性传播。

 

 

Researchers have used whole genome sequencing to reveal if drug-resistant bacteria are transmitted from animals to humans in two disease outbreaks that occurred on different farms in Denmark. The results, which are published today in EMBO Molecular Medicine, confirm animal-to-human transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a disease-causing bacterium that carries the recently described mecC gene. The mecC gene is responsible for resistance to the penicillin-like antibiotic methicillin.

 

Drug-resistant bacterial infections pose a significant challenge to public health and may have severe and sometimes fatal consequences. As the costs of whole genome sequencing methods continue to plummet and the speed of analysis increases, it becomes increasingly attractive for scientists to use whole genome sequencing to answer disease-related questions.

 

“We used whole genome sequencing to see if we could determine if the two disease outbreaks were caused by the same bacterium and to investigate if the pathogens were transmitted from animal to humans or the other way around,” remarked Mark Holmes, from the University of Cambridge and the senior author on the paper. “At first glance, it seems reasonable to expect the same pathogen to be the source of the two outbreaks at the two geographically close locations. By looking at the single differences in nucleotides or SNPs in the DNA sequences of each isolate, it became obvious that two different strains of bacteria were responsible for the two disease outbreaks. In one case, the results also clearly showed that the most likely direction of transmission was from animal to human.”

 

Methicillin-resistant S. aureus can lead to debilitating skin and soft tissue infections, bacteremia, pneumonia and endocarditis. The researchers used an Illumina HiSeq sequencing system to take a close look at the nucleotide sequence of each pathogen. By comparing single differences in nucleotides in the two sequences (single nucleotide polymorphisms) they were able to reach conclusions about the identity of the pathogens and the routes of infection.

 

The researchers emphasize that while whole genome sequencing cannot replace other more traditional types of diseases analysis it can greatly increase the ability of scientists to distinguish between different pathogens as the cause of disease.

 

“Our findings demonstrate that the MRSA strains we studied are capable of transmission between animals and humans, which highlights the role of livestock as a potential reservoir of antibiotic-resistant bacteria,” remarked Ewan Harrison, one of the lead authors of the study.

 

Whole genome sequencing identifies zoonotic transmission of MRSA isolates with the novel mecA homologue mecC

 

 

 

 

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