Contribution of Genomics and Transcriptomics to the Understanding of the Biological Role of DNases in S. agalactiae
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Description
Streptococcus agalactiae is the leading cause of neonatal pneumonia, sepsis, and meningitis. Strains III/ST17 emerged as a hypervirulent clone mostly associated with meningitis during late-onset disease. Production of extracellular DNases and biofilm formation have been proposed to explain the leading role of this clone in neonatal meningitis. The aim of this work was to shed some light on the genetic background of DNase production in S. agalactiae strains isolated in humans presenting diverse cell tropism (invasive vs carriage). Genomic approaches were used to decipher the molecular basis of the differential production of DNases, through the analysis of the “core-genome” and the “pan-genome” of ST17 and ST19 strains.