RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Origin of modern syphilis and emergence of a contemporary pandemic cluster
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 051037
DO 10.1101/051037
A1 Natasha Arora
A1 Verena J. Schuenemann
A1 Günter Jäger
A1 Alexander Peltzer
A1 Alexander Seitz
A1 Alexander Herbig
A1 Michal Strouhal
A1 Linda Grillová
A1 Leonor Sánchez-Busó
A1 Denise Kühnert
A1 Kirsten I. Bos
A1 Leyla Rivero Davis
A1 Lenka Mikalová
A1 Sylvia Bruisten
A1 Peter Komericki
A1 Patrick French
A1 Paul R. Grant
A1 María A. Pando
A1 Lucía Gallo Vaulet
A1 Marcelo Rodríguez Fermepin
A1 Antonio Martinez
A1 Arturo Centurion Lara
A1 Lorenzo Giacani
A1 Steven J. Norris
A1 David Šmajs
A1 Philipp P. Bosshard
A1 Fernando González-Candelas
A1 Kay Nieselt
A1 Johannes Krause
A1 Homayoun C. Bagheri
YR 2016
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/04/29/051037.abstract
AB Syphilis swept across the world in the 16th century as one of most prominent documented pandemics and is re-emerging worldwide despite the availability of effective antibiotics. Little is known about the genetic patterns in current infections or the evolutionary origins of the disease due to the non-cultivable and clonal nature of the causative bacterium Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum. In this study, we used DNA capture and next generation sequencing to obtain whole genome data from syphilis patient specimens and from treponemes propagated in laboratory settings. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that the syphilis strains examined here share a common ancestor after the 15th century. Moreover, most contemporary strains are azithromycin resistant and members of a globally dominant cluster named here as SS14-Ω. This cluster diversified from a common ancestor in the mid-20th century and has the population genetic and epidemiological features indicative of the emergence of a pandemic strain cluster.