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Home / Equine Research Bank / PLoS One / Genomic diversity of Taylorella equigenitalis introduced int...
PloS one2018; 13(3); e0194253; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194253

Genomic diversity of Taylorella equigenitalis introduced into the United States from 1978 to 2012.

Abstract: Contagious equine metritis is a disease of worldwide concern in equids. The United States is considered to be free of the disease although sporadic outbreaks have occurred over the last few decades that were thought to be associated with the importation of horses. The objective of this study was to create finished, reference quality genomes that characterize the diversity of Taylorella equigenitalis isolates introduced into the USA, and identify their differences. Five isolates of T. equigenitalis associated with introductions into the USA from unique sources were sequenced using both short and long read chemistries allowing for complete assembly and annotation. These sequences were compared to previously published genomes as well as the short read sequences of the 200 isolates in the National Veterinary Services Laboratories' diagnostic repository to identify unique regions and genes, potential virulence factors, and characterize diversity. The 5 genomes varied in size by up to 100,000 base pairs, but averaged 1.68 megabases. The majority of that diversity in size can be explained by repeat regions and 4 main regions of difference, which ranged in size from 15,000 to 45,000 base pairs. The first region of difference contained mostly hypothetical proteins, the second contained the CRISPR, the third contained primarily hemagglutinin proteins, and the fourth contained primarily segments of a type IV secretion system. As expected and previously reported, little evidence of recombination was found within these genomes. Several additional areas of interest were also observed including a mechanism for streptomycin resistance and other virulence factors. A SNP distance comparison of the T. equigenitalis isolates and Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) showed that relatively, T. equigenitalis was a more diverse species than the entirety of MTBC.
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Publication Date: 2018-03-27 PubMed ID: 29584782PubMed Central: PMC5870977DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194253Google Scholar: Lookup
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Summary

This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.

This research primarily aimed to understand the genomic diversity of Taylorella equigenitalis, the bacteria causing contagious equine metritis in horses, particularly focusing on its strain variants brought into the United States between 1978 to 2012.

Objective and Methodology

  • The main objective of the study was to generate high-quality genomes that detail the variability of Taylorella equigenitalis isolates entering the USA and identify any differences across these variants.
  • The researchers applied both short and long-read sequencing chemistries to sequence the genomes of five unique isolates of T. equigenitalis, enabling complete genome assembly and annotation.
  • These sequenced genomes were then compared with previously published genomes, as well as the short-read sequences of 200 isolates housed in the National Veterinary Services Laboratories’ diagnostic repository.
  • The goal of this comparison was to identify unique genomic regions and genes, potential virulence factors, and precisely characterize the range of genomic diversity present in these isolates.

Findings

  • The researchers identified significant size variations in the genomes of the five isolates, with size differences of up to 100,000 base pairs, and an average size across genomes of 1.68 megabases.
  • Four primary regions of difference in the genomes were identified, accounting for the most of the observed diversity in size. These areas ranged in size from 15,000 to 45,000 base pairs.
  • These four different regions contained distinct genetic information: one was predominantly hypothetical proteins; the second contained the CRISPR system; the third was characterized by hemagglutinin proteins; and the fourth primarily housed segments of a type IV secretion system.
  • Evidence of recombination, a genetic process that could contribute to genetic diversity, was found to be largely lacking across the genomes, aligning with previous findings.
  • Additional areas of interest were identified, including a mechanism for resistance to the antibiotic streptomycin and other potential virulence factors.

Conclusion

  • The isolates of T. equigenitalis were found to be more diverse at the genomic level compared to the entirety of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, as revealed by a SNP distance comparison.
  • This research offers a crucial foundation for understanding the genetic diversity and transmission paths of T. equigenitalis, which can influence surveillance strategies and prevention measures against contagious equine metritis.

Cite This Article

APA
Hicks J, Stuber T, Lantz K, Erdman M, Robbe-Austerman S, Huang X. (2018). Genomic diversity of Taylorella equigenitalis introduced into the United States from 1978 to 2012. PLoS One, 13(3), e0194253. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0194253

Publication

PloS one
ISSN: 1932-6203
NlmUniqueID: 101285081
Country: United States
Language: English
Volume: 13
Issue: 3
Pages: e0194253

Researcher Affiliations

Hicks, Jessica
  • Diagnostic Bacteriology and Pathology Laboratory, National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL), USDA, Ames, IA, United States of America.
Stuber, Tod
  • Diagnostic Bacteriology and Pathology Laboratory, National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL), USDA, Ames, IA, United States of America.
Lantz, Kristina
  • Diagnostic Bacteriology and Pathology Laboratory, National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL), USDA, Ames, IA, United States of America.
Erdman, Matthew
  • Policy Evaluation and Licensing Section, Center for Veterinary Biologics, USDA, Ames, IA, United States of America.
Robbe-Austerman, Suelee
  • Diagnostic Bacteriology and Pathology Laboratory, National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL), USDA, Ames, IA, United States of America.
Huang, Xiaoqiu
  • Department of Computer Science, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, United States of America.

MeSH Terms

  • Animals
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology
  • Computational Biology / methods
  • Drug Resistance, Bacterial
  • Female
  • Genetic Variation
  • Genome, Bacterial
  • Genomics / methods
  • Horse Diseases / microbiology
  • Horses
  • Introduced Species
  • Male
  • Phylogeny
  • Taylorella equigenitalis / classification
  • Taylorella equigenitalis / drug effects
  • Taylorella equigenitalis / genetics
  • United States

Conflict of Interest Statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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Citations

This article has been cited 2 times.
  1. Hrala M, Andrla P, Bosák J, Fedrová P, Mugutdinov A, Karpíšková R, Nedbalcová K, Raichová J, Faldyna M, Hořín P, Šmajs D. Whole genome sequences of nine Taylorella equigenitalis strains isolated in the Czech Republic between 1982-2021: Molecular dating suggests a common ancestor at the time of Roman Empire. PLoS One 2025;20(1):e0315946.
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  2. Hicks J, Stuber T, Lantz K, Torchetti M, Robbe-Austerman S. vSNP: a SNP pipeline for the generation of transparent SNP matrices and phylogenetic trees from whole genome sequencing data sets. BMC Genomics 2024 Jun 1;25(1):545.
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