Genomic Epidemiology and Strain Taxonomy of Corynebacterium diphtheriae.

ABSTRACT: Corynebacterium diphtheriae is highly transmissible and can cause large diphtheria outbreaks where vaccination coverage is insufficient. Sporadic cases or small clusters are observed in high-vaccination settings. The phylogeography and short timescale evolution of C. diphtheriae are not well understood, in part due to a lack of harmonized analytical approaches of genomic surveillance and strain tracking. We combined 1,305 genes with highly reproducible allele calls into a core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) scheme. We analyzed cgMLST gene diversity among 602 isolates from sporadic clinical cases, small clusters, or large outbreaks. We defined sublineages based on the phylogenetic structure within C. diphtheriae and strains based on the highest number of cgMLST mismatches within

SUBMITTER: Guglielmini J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8601238 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature