A Whole-genome Sequencing Analysis of Neisseria gonorrhoeae Isolates in China: An Observational Study

Tracking the spread of the Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains with decreased susceptibility or resistance to cephalosporins is a major priority for global surveillance programmes. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) has been widely used by increasing countries in North America, Europe, and Pacific to determine the decreased susceptible or resistance determinants of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, track the spread of these determinants throughout the gonococcal population at national or regional level. However, no studies to date have examined the genomic epidemiology of gonorrhea in Asia where the antimicrobial resistant strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae appears to have emerged before disseminating the strains globally.

We obtained clinical isolates and data from the China Gonococcal Resistance Surveillance Programme (China-GRSP) from 2012 to 2013. We sequenced the genomes of 435 clinical isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, including 112 (25.6%) isolates with decreased susceptibility to ceftriaxone (Cfx-DS). We assessed the association between antimicrobial resistance genotype and phenotype. We also compared our data with the whole genome data of the isolates from the USA and the UK in the GenBank.

The most prevalent MLST STs in our gonococcal population were MLST ST7827 (n = 74), followed by ST7365 (n = 58), ST1600 (n = 38), ST7367 (n = 35), and ST7363 (n = 29). MLST ST1901 which was reported as the predominant ST in the US was not found in our population. A total of 2512 strains, including additional 2077 published NG strains, were further included for phylogenetic analysis. It generated two distinct lineages - lineage 1 and lineage 2. Analysis of MLST ST1901 in the database indicate that most of MLST ST1901 isolates in the lineage2.6 were Cfx-DS isolates while all isolates in the lineage 2.1 were sensitive to ceftriaxone (77/110 vs. 0/13; p < 0.001). ST1901/lineage 2.6 is a ceftriaxone resistant clone which cannot distinguished by MLST genotyping. In the isolates from our study, the MICs of ceftriaxone for ST7363/lineage 2.6 isolates ranged from 0.008-0.125 mg/L (mean ± SD; 0.054 ± 0.043 mg/L) while those for ST7363/lineage 2.8 isolates ranged from 0.032-0.250 mg/L (0.134 ± 0.085 mg/L). All ST7363/lineage 2.8 isolates contained penA mosaic alleles.

To our knowledge, current study is the first WGS-based analysis of gonococcal population at national level in Asia. China harbors the different predominant clones associated with decreased susceptibility to ceftriaxone from those clones circulated in other regions. The findings from the study can be not only used as baseline data for future studies in China but also contributable to our understanding on spread of N. gonorrhoeae and its resistant strains at regional and global levels.

The Chinese Academy Medical Sciences (CAMS) Initiative for Innovative Medicine.