Genomic epidemiology and population structure of Neisseria gonorrhoeae from remote highly endemic Western Australian populations

Abstract

Background: Neisseria gonorrhoeae causes gonorrhoea, the second most commonly notified sexually transmitted infection in Australia. One of the highest notification rates of gonorrhoea is found in the remote regions of Western Australia (WA). Unlike isolates from the major Australian population centres, the remote community isolates have low rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Population structure and whole-genome comparison of 59 isolates from the Western Australian N. gonorrhoeae collection were used to investigate relatedness of isolates cultured in the metropolitan and remote areas. Core genome phylogeny, multilocus sequencing typing (MLST), N. gonorrhoeae multi-antigen sequence typing (NG-MAST) and N. gonorrhoeae sequence typing for antimicrobial resistance (NG-STAR) in addition to hierarchical clustering of sequences were used to characterize the isolates.

Genomic and Phenotypic Variability in Neisseria gonorrhoeae Antimicrobial Susceptibility, England

“…MSM have more bacterial STI diagnoses and greater exposure to antimicrobial drugs, thereby increasing selection pressures for AMR, a hypothesis supported by mathematical models (21)(22)(23)(24). Resistant strains also might persist in the absence of selective pressure because the organism's biologic fitness is unaffected or compensatory mutations mitigate a deleterious effect (25)(26)(27). By combining WGS, epidemiologic, and phenotypic data, we found that reduced susceptibility to ceftriaxone and cefixime emerged repeatedly in separate sexual networks in England.…”

Molecular Analysis of Eight American Type Culture Collection Gonococcal Strains by Neisseria gonorrhoeae Multiantigen Sequence Typing and PorB Sequence Typing

“…Among the various methodologies used in epidemiological studies, N. gonorrhoeae multiantigen sequence typing (NG-MAST) and public multilocus sequence typing (PubMLST) approaches have been widely adopted for molecular typing [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17].…”

“…The NG-MAST analysis results are presented in the form of discrete allele numbers and sequence types (STs) for each isolate. This approach has been used globally to study prevalent strain genotypes, their transmission in sexual networks and core groups, and to describe distributions of resistant strains [6][7][8][9][10][11]. PubMLST is also an online public database, which originated as part of the development of the multilocus sequence typing (MLST) approach to the characterisation of bacterial strains in 1998 [12].…”

“…There have been many epidemiological studies to characterise Neisseria spp. using PubMLST [11,[13][14][15][16][17].…”

The role of microbiology in gonococcal control in the West: helping to understand the enemy

“…WA isolates and compared to an international N. gonorrhoeae collection 15 . Two distinct population groups were found among the remote region isolates that carried no chromosomal antimicrobial resistance genotypes.…”