Revealing Genomic Insights of the Unexplored Porcine Pathogen Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae Using Whole Genome Sequencing

Abstract

Pleuropneumonia is one of the most relevant respiratory infections in the swine industry. Despite Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (APP) being one of the most important pathogens in the pig production, this is the first comparative study including all available whole genome sequencing data from NCBI.

PluMu - a Mu-like bacteriophage infectingActinobacillus pleuropneumoniae

“…In the latter study, isolate origins included Australia, Asia, Europe, and North and South America, and comprised a range of serovars, i.e., 1-2, 4-8, and 10-11. All the serovar 11 (like 3457) isolates predicted to have active phage were from Europe, although the serovar 1 (like 3459) isolate was from China [9]. Whilst neither of these studies has shown active phage, our results suggest that the presence of Mu-like phage, especially ones related to Mannheimi a Vb, is comparatively common in A. pleuropneumoniae genomes.…”

“…Phastest did not predict an attachment site for PluMu 3457 or PluMu 3459, unsurprising given the lack of knowledge of A. pleuropneumoniae phage biology. Others have used Phaster [10], or another phage identification program Prophage Hunter [9] to search A. pleuropneumoniae genomes for complete and/or active phage. Whole genome analysis identified 13 “complete” [10], and 21 “active” phages with 18 being most closely related to Mannheimia Vb [9].…”

“…Others have used Phaster [10], or another phage identification program Prophage Hunter [9] to search A. pleuropneumoniae genomes for complete and/or active phage. Whole genome analysis identified 13 “complete” [10], and 21 “active” phages with 18 being most closely related to Mannheimia Vb [9]. In the latter study, isolate origins included Australia, Asia, Europe, and North and South America, and comprised a range of serovars, i.e., 1-2, 4-8, and 10-11.…”

“…Mobile genetic elements facilitate the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and small plasmids and integrative conjugative elements carrying resistance genes have been reported in isolates of A. pleuropneumoniae [5,6]. However, to our knowledge, no active phage has been described in A. pleuropneumoniae although recent Phaster [7] and ProPhage Hunter [8] analyses identified possible phage in some isolates [9,10]. However, no data was presented demonstrating the production of viral particles.…”

The CpxA/CpxR two-component system mediates regulation of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae cold growth

“…Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae is an important swine pathogen responsible for respiratory infectious disease, porcine contagious pleuropneumonia (PCP). PCP is characterized by fibrinous, hemorrhagic, and necrotic lung lesions, and causes substantial losses in the swine industry worldwide (Guitart-Matas et al, 2022;Zhang et al, 2022). To date, 19 reference serovars have been identified based on the composition of the capsular polysaccharide (CPS; Stringer et al, 2021;Scherrer et al, 2022).…”