Neutral microepidemic evolution of bacterial pathogens.

ABSTRACT: Understanding bacterial population genetics is vital for interpreting the response of bacterial populations to selection pressures such as antibiotic treatment or vaccines targeted at only a subset of strains. The evolution of transmissible bacteria occurs by mutation and localized recombination and is influenced by epidemiological as well as molecular processes. We demonstrate that the observed population genetic structure of three important human pathogens, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis, and Staphylococcus aureus, can be explained by using a simple evolutionary model that is based on neutral mutational drift, modulated by recombination, and which incorporates the impact of epidemic transmission in local populations. The predictions of this neutral "microepidemic" model

SUBMITTER: Fraser C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC548543 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature