Rates of Mutations and Transcript Errors in the Foodborne Pathogen Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica.
Mol Biol Evol
; 39(4)2022 04 10.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35446958
ABSTRACT
Because errors at the DNA level power pathogen evolution, a systematic understanding of the rate and molecular spectra of mutations could guide the avoidance and treatment of infectious diseases. We thus accumulated tens of thousands of spontaneous mutations in 768 repeatedly bottlenecked lineages of 18 strains from various geographical sites, temporal spread, and genetic backgrounds. Entailing over â¼1.36 million generations, the resultant data yield an average mutation rate of â¼0.0005 per genome per generation, with a significant within-species variation. This is one of the lowest bacterial mutation rates reported, giving direct support for a high genome stability in this pathogen resulting from high DNA-mismatch-repair efficiency and replication-machinery fidelity. Pathogenicity genes do not exhibit an accelerated mutation rate, and thus, elevated mutation rates may not be the major determinant for the diversification of toxin and secretion systems. Intriguingly, a low error rate at the transcript level is not observed, suggesting distinct fidelity of the replication and transcription machinery. This study urges more attention on the most basic evolutionary processes of even the best-known human pathogens and deepens the understanding of their genome evolution.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Salmonella
/
Salmonella enterica
Language:
En
Journal:
Mol Biol Evol
Journal subject:
BIOLOGIA MOLECULAR
Year:
2022
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
China