Hyper-Recombination, Diversity, and Antibiotic Resistance in Pneumococcus
William Paul Hanage,1,*
Christophe Fraser,1
Jing Tang,2
Thomas Richard Connor,1
Jukka Corander2
Streptococcus pneumoniae is a pathogen of global importance
that frequently transfers genetic material between strains and
on occasion across species boundaries. In an analysis of 1930
pneumococcal genotypes from six housekeeping genes and 94 genotypes
from related species, we identified mosaic genotypes representing
admixture between populations and found that these were significantly
associated with resistance to several classes of antibiotics.
We hypothesize that these observations result from a history
of hyper-recombination, which means that these strains are more
likely to acquire both divergent genetic material and resistance
determinants. This could have consequences for the reemergence
of drug resistance after pneumococcal vaccination and also for
our understanding of diversification and speciation in recombinogenic
bacteria.
1 Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG, UK.
2 Department of Mathematics, Åbo Akademi, FI-20500, Turku, Finland.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: w.hanage{at}imperial.ac.uk
