Open AccessEvidence of episodic positive selection in Corynebacterium diphtheriae complex of species and its implementations in identification of drug and vaccine targets
Author(s) -
Marcus Vinícius Canário Viana,
Rodrigo Profeta,
Janaína Canário Cerqueira,
Alice R. Wattam,
Debmalya Barh,
Artur da Costa da Luiz Silva,
Vasco Azevedo
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
peerj
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.927
H-Index - 70
ISSN - 2167-8359
DOI - 10.7717/peerj.12662
Subject(s) - biology , corynebacterium diphtheriae , gene , diphtheria , genome , corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis , diphtheria toxin , phylogenetic tree , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , virulence , phylogenetics , virology , bacteria , toxin , vaccination
Background Within the pathogenic bacterial species Corynebacterium genus, six species that can produce diphtheria toxin ( C. belfantii , C. diphtheriae, C. pseudotuberculosis , C. rouxii , C. silvaticum and C. ulcerans ) form a clade referred to as the C. diphtheria complex. These species have been found in humans and other animals, causing diphtheria or other diseases. Here we show the results of a genome scale analysis to identify positive selection in protein-coding genes that may have resulted in the adaptations of these species to their ecological niches and suggest drug and vaccine targets. Methods Forty genomes were sampled to represent species, subspecies or biovars of Corynebacterium . Ten phylogenetic groups were tested for positive selection using the PosiGene pipeline, including species and biovars from the C. diphtheria complex. The detected genes were tested for recombination and had their sequences alignments and homology manually examined. The final genes were investigated for their function and a probable role as vaccine or drug targets. Results Nineteen genes were detected in the species C. diphtheriae (two), C. pseudotuberculosis (10), C. rouxii (one), and C. ulcerans (six). Those were found to be involved in defense, translation, energy production, and transport and in the metabolism of carbohydrates, amino acids, nucleotides, and coenzymes. Fourteen were identified as essential genes, and six as virulence factors. Thirteen from the 19 genes were identified as potential drug targets and four as potential vaccine candidates. These genes could be important in the prevention and treatment of the diseases caused by these bacteria.