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Heuristic Mining of Hierarchical Genotypes and Accessory Genome Loci in Bacterial Populations
Published on: December 7, 2021
Multilocus sequence typing and phylogenetic analysis of Propionibacterium acnes
Mogens Kilian1, Christian F P Scholz, Hans B Lomholt
1Department of Biomedicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aarhus University, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. kilian@microbiology.au.dk
Journal of Clinical Microbiology
|January 20, 2012
Summary
This study compares two Propionibacterium acnes typing schemes. The Aarhus MLST scheme provides higher resolution for understanding P. acnes evolution and disease associations.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Genomics
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) is a skin commensal linked to acne, device infections, and potentially prostate cancer.
- Distinct evolutionary lineages within P. acnes associate with different health and disease states.
- Existing multilocus sequence typing (MLST) schemes for P. acnes lack sufficient resolution.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare two recently reported MLST schemes for P. acnes.
- To determine which scheme offers enhanced resolution for phylogenetic analysis.
- To better understand the population structure and global spread of P. acnes clones.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of two MLST schemes (7-gene vs. 9-gene).
- Phylogenetic tree construction using 78 P. acnes whole genomes and their gene content.
- Evaluation of phylogenetic inference concordance with genomic data.
Main Results:
- The Aarhus MLST scheme (9 genes) demonstrated significantly higher resolution than the Belfast scheme (7 genes).
- Phylogenetic inferences from the Aarhus scheme were more concordant with whole-genome analyses.
- Evidence supports a clonal population structure and global spread of epidemic P. acnes clones.
Conclusions:
- The Aarhus MLST scheme is superior for high-resolution typing of P. acnes.
- Enhanced typing facilitates a deeper understanding of P. acnes evolution, pathogenicity, and epidemiology.
- This improved typing scheme aids in distinguishing disease-associated P. acnes strains.
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