Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/29180
Appears in Collections:Aquaculture Journal Articles
Peer Review Status: Refereed
Title: Streptococcus canis Are a Single Population Infecting Multiple Animal Hosts Despite the Diversity of the Universally Present M-Like Protein SCM
Author(s): Pinho, Marcos D
Foster, Geoffrey
Pomba, Constança
Machado, Miguel P
Baily, Johanna L
Kuiken, Thijs
Melo-Cristino, José
Ramirez, Mário
Keywords: Streptococcus canis
multilocus sequence typing
M-like protein (SCM) gene
wildlife
genome
Issue Date: 29-Mar-2019
Date Deposited: 1-Apr-2019
Citation: Pinho MD, Foster G, Pomba C, Machado MP, Baily JL, Kuiken T, Melo-Cristino J & Ramirez M (2019) Streptococcus canis Are a Single Population Infecting Multiple Animal Hosts Despite the Diversity of the Universally Present M-Like Protein SCM. Frontiers in Microbiology, 10, Art. No.: 631. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00631
Abstract: Streptococcus canis is an animal pathogen which occasionally causes infections in humans. The S. canis M-like protein (SCM) encoded by the scm gene, is its best characterized virulence factor but previous studies suggested it could be absent in a substantial fraction of isolates. We studied the distribution and variability of the scm gene in 188 S. canis isolates recovered from companion animals (n = 152), wild animal species (n = 20), and humans (n = 14). Multilocus sequence typing, including the first characterization of wildlife isolates, showed that the same lineages are present in all animal hosts, raising the possibility of extensive circulation between species. Whole-genome analysis revealed that emm-like genes found previously in S. canis correspond to divergent scm genes, indicating that what was previously believed to correspond to two genes is in fact the same scm locus. We designed primers allowing for the first time the successful amplification of the scm gene in all isolates. Analysis of the scm sequences identified 12 distinct types, which could be divided into two clusters: group I (76%, n = 142) and group II (24%, n = 46) sharing little sequence similarity. The predicted group I SCM showed extensive similarity with each other outside of the N-terminal hypervariable region and a conserved IgG binding domain. This domain was absent from group II SCM variants found in isolates previously thought to lack the scm gene, which also showed greater amino acid variability. Further studies are necessary to elucidate the possible host interacting partners of the group II SCM variants and their role in virulence.
DOI Link: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.00631
Rights: © 2019 Pinho, Foster, Pomba, Machado, Baily, Kuiken, Melo-Cristino, Ramirez and the Portuguese Group for the Study of Streptococcal Infections. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Notes: Additional co-authors listed: Portuguese Group for the Study of Streptococcal Infections
Licence URL(s): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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