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Comparative genomics of Brucella abortus and Brucella melitensis unravels the gene sharing, virulence factors and SNP diversity among the standard, vaccine and field strains

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Abstract

Brucella abortus and Brucella melitensis are the primary etiological agents of brucellosis in large and small ruminants, respectively. There are limited comparative genomic studies involving Brucella strains that explore the relatedness among both species. In this study, we involved strains (n=44) representing standard, vaccine and Indian field origin for pangenome, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and phylogenetic analysis. Both species shared a common gene pool representing 2884 genes out of a total 3244 genes. SNP-based phylogenetic analysis indicated higher SNP diversity among B. melitensis (3824) strains in comparison to B. abortus (540) strains, and a clear demarcation was identified between standard/vaccine and field strains. The analysis for virulence genes revealed that virB3, virB7, ricA, virB5, ipx5, wbkC, wbkB, and acpXL genes were highly conserved in most of the Brucella strains. Interestingly, virB10 gene was found to have high variability among the B. abortus strains. The cgMLST analysis revealed distinct sequence types for the standard/vaccine and field strains. B. abortus strains from north-eastern India fall within similar sequence type differing from other strains. In conclusion, the analysis revealed a highly shared core genome among two Brucella species. SNP analysis revealed B. melitensis strains exhibit high diversity as compared to B. abortus strains. Strains with absence or high polymorphism of virulence genes can be exploited for the development of novel vaccine candidates effective against both B. abortus and B. melitensis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Bacteriology and Mycology, ICAR- Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, 243122, India

    S. Anbazhagan, K.M. Himani, Lakshmi Prakasan, Sonu S. Nair,  Abhishek, V.K. Chaturvedi, Pallab Chaudhuri & Prasad Thomas

  2. ICMR-National Animal Resource Facility for Biomedical Research, Hyderabad, India

    S. Anbazhagan & S.G. Ramachandra

  3. Division of Epidemiology, ICAR- Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, 243122, India

    R. Karthikeyan

  4. Division of Pathology, ICAR- Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, 243122, India

    M. Dinesh

  5. Department of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology, SOM, OHSU, Portland, OR, US, 97239, USA

    Jonathan Lalsiamthara

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Contributions

Conception and design of study: Prasad Thomas, Anbazhagan S, Pallab Chaudhuri. Acquisition of data: Himani K. M, Karthikeyan R. Analysis and/or interpretation of data: Anbazhagan S, Jonathan Lalsiamthara. Drafting the manuscript: Anbazhagan S, Lakshmi Prakasan, Sonu S. Nair, Dinesh M, Abhishek, Ramachandra S.G, Chaturvedi V.K, Prasad Thomas.

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Correspondence to Pallab Chaudhuri or Prasad Thomas.

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Supplementary information

ESM 1

Figure S1: Phylogenetic tree based on the SNPs (GIF 15 kb)

ESM 2

Figure S2: Virulence factors presence or absence and sequence identity (JPG 832 kb)

ESM 3

Table S1: Metadata and assembly accession number of Brucella isolates involved in the study. Table S2: Details of phages and genomic islands predicted for Brucella species. Table S3: COGs annotations of the accessory genes predicted in the B. abortus genomes. Table S4: COGs annotations of the accessory genes predicted in the B. melitensis genomes. Table S5: Details of SNPs, (Non Synonymous and Synonymous) identified among 44 strains (XLSX 302 kb)

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Anbazhagan, S., Himani, K., Karthikeyan, R. et al. Comparative genomics of Brucella abortus and Brucella melitensis unravels the gene sharing, virulence factors and SNP diversity among the standard, vaccine and field strains. Int Microbiol 27, 101–111 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10123-023-00374-w

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