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bioRxiv · 10.1101/105759

Millennia of genomic stability within the invasive Para C Lineage of Salmonella enterica

Zhou, Z.·Lundstrom, I.·Tran-Dien, A.·Duchene, S.·Alikhan, N.-F.·Sergeant, M. J.·Langridge, G.·Fotakis, A. K.·Nair, S.·Stenoien, H. K.·Hamre, S. S.·Casjens, S.·Christophersen, A.·Quince, C.·Thomson, N. R.·Weill, F.-X.·Ho, S. Y. W.·Gilbert, M. T. P.·Achtman, M.
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Abstract

Salmonella enterica serovar Paratyphi C is the causative agent of enteric (paratyphoid) fever. While today a potentially lethal infection of humans that occurs in Africa and Asia, early 20th century observations in Eastern Europe suggest it may once have had a wider-ranging impact on human societies. We recovered a draft Paratyphi C genome from the 800-year-old skeleton of a young woman in Trondheim, Norway, who likely died of enteric fever. Analysis of this genome against a new, significantly expanded database of related modern genomes demonstrated that Paratyphi C is descended from the ancestors of swine pathogens, serovars Choleraesuis and Typhisuis, together forming the Para C Lineage. Our results indicate that Paratyphi C has been a pathogen of humans for at least 1,000 years, and may have evolved after zoonotic transfer from swine during the Neolithic period.\n\nOne Sentence SummaryThe combination of an 800-year-old Salmonella enterica Paratyphi C genome with genomes from extant bacteria reshapes our understanding of this pathogens origins and evolution.

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Zhou, Z., Lundstrom, I., Tran-Dien, A., Duchene, S., Alikhan, N.-F., Sergeant, M. J., Langridge, G., Fotakis, A. K., Nair, S., Stenoien, H. K., Hamre, S. S., Casjens, S., Christophersen, A., Quince, C., Thomson, N. R., Weill, F.-X., Ho, S. Y. W., Gilbert, M. T. P., Achtman, M.. 2017-02-03. Millennia of genomic stability within the invasive Para C Lineage of Salmonella enterica. https://doi.org/10.1101/105759

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