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Heuristic Mining of Hierarchical Genotypes and Accessory Genome Loci in Bacterial Populations
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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
PubMed

Insights

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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