WGS based study of the population structure of Salmonella enterica serovar Infantis

Salmonella Infantis (S. Infantis) is one of the most frequent Salmonella serovars isolated from human cases of salmonellosis and the most detected serovar from animal and food sources in Europe. The serovar is commonly associated with poultry and there is increasing concern over multidrug resistant clones spreading worldwide, as the dominating clones are characterized by presence of large plasmids carrying multiple resistance genes. Increasing the knowledge of the S. Infantis population and evolution is important for understanding and preventing further spread. In this study, we analysed a collection of strains representing different decades, sources and geographic locations. We analysed the population structure and the accessory genome, in particular we identified prophages with a view to understand the role of prophages in relation to the evolution of this serovar.

We sequenced a global collection of 100 S. Infantis strains. A core-genome SNP analysis separated five strains in e-Burst Group (eBG) 297 with a long branch. The remaining strains, all in eBG31, were divided into three lineages that were estimated to have separated approximately 150 years ago. One lineage contained the vast majority of strains. In five of six clusters, no obvious correlation with source or geographical locations was seen. However, one cluster contained mostly strains from human and avian sources, indicating a clone with preference for these sources. The majority of strains within this cluster harboured a pESI-like plasmid with multiple resistance genes. Another lineage contained three genetic clusters with more rarely isolated strains of mainly animal origin, possibly less sampled or less infectious clones. Conserved prophages were identified in all strains, likely representing bacteriophages which integrated into the chromosome of a common ancestor to S. Infantis. We also saw that some prophages were specific to clusters and were probably introduced when the clusters were formed.

This study analysed a global S. Infantis population and described its genetic structure. We hypothesize that the population has evolved in three separate lineages, with one more successfully emerging lineage. We furthermore detected conserved prophages present in the entire population and cluster specific prophages, which probably shaped the population structure.