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- Title
Apparent nosocomial adaptation of Enterococcus faecalis predates the modern hospital era.
- Authors
Pöntinen, Anna K.; Top, Janetta; Arredondo-Alonso, Sergio; Tonkin-Hill, Gerry; Freitas, Ana R.; Novais, Carla; Gladstone, Rebecca A.; Pesonen, Maiju; Meneses, Rodrigo; Pesonen, Henri; Lees, John A.; Jamrozy, Dorota; Bentley, Stephen D.; Lanza, Val F.; Torres, Carmen; Peixe, Luisa; Coque, Teresa M.; Parkhill, Julian; Schürch, Anita C.; Willems, Rob J. L.
- Abstract
Enterococcus faecalis is a commensal and nosocomial pathogen, which is also ubiquitous in animals and insects, representing a classical generalist microorganism. Here, we study E. faecalis isolates ranging from the pre-antibiotic era in 1936 up to 2018, covering a large set of host species including wild birds, mammals, healthy humans, and hospitalised patients. We sequence the bacterial genomes using short- and long-read techniques, and identify multiple extant hospital-associated lineages, with last common ancestors dating back as far as the 19th century. We find a population cohesively connected through homologous recombination, a metabolic flexibility despite a small genome size, and a stable large core genome. Our findings indicate that the apparent hospital adaptations found in hospital-associated E. faecalis lineages likely predate the "modern hospital" era, suggesting selection in another niche, and underlining the generalist nature of this nosocomial pathogen. Enterococcus faecalis is a commensal microorganism of animals, insects and humans, but also a nosocomial pathogen. Here, the authors analyse genomic sequences from E. faecalis isolates from animals and humans, and find that the last common ancestors of multiple hospital-associated lineages date to the pre-antibiotic era.
- Subjects
ENTEROCOCCUS faecalis; ENTEROCOCCUS; BACTERIAL genomes; GENOME size; HOSPITALS; NINETEENTH century
- Publication
Nature Communications, 2021, Vol 12, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
2041-1723
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/s41467-021-21749-5