Modelling evolutionary pathways for commensalism and hypervirulence in Neisseria meningitidis.

ABSTRACT: Neisseria meningitidis, the meningococcus, resides exclusively in humans and causes invasive meningococcal disease (IMD). The population of N. meningitidis is structured into stable clonal complexes by limited horizontal recombination in this naturally transformable species. N. meningitidis is an opportunistic pathogen, with some clonal complexes, such as cc53, effectively acting as commensal colonizers, while other genetic lineages, such as cc11, are rarely colonizers but are over-represented in IMD and are termed hypervirulent. This study examined theoretical evolutionary pathways for pathogenic and commensal lineages by examining the prevalence of horizontally acquired genomic islands (GIs) and loss-of-function (LOF) mutations. Using a collection of 4850 geno

SUBMITTER: Mullally CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8627216 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature