A public database for the new MLST scheme for
                    Treponema pallidum
                    subsp.
                    pallidum
                    : surveillance and epidemiology of the causative agent of syphilis

Linda Grillova; Keith Jolley; David Šmajs; Mathieu Picardeau

doi:10.7717/peerj.6182

journal article Open Access Jan 09, 2019

A public database for the new MLST scheme for Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum : surveillance and epidemiology of the causative agent of syphilis

Linda Grillova Keith Jolley David Šmajs Mathieu Picardeau

PeerJ Vol. 6 pp. e6182 · PeerJ

View at Publisher Save 10.7717/peerj.6182

Abstract

Treponema pallidum
subsp.
pallidum
is the causative agent of syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease with worldwide prevalence. Several different molecular typing schemes are currently available for this pathogen. To enable population biology studies of the syphilis agent and for epidemiological surveillance at the global scale, a harmonized typing tool needs to be introduced. Recently, we published a new multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) with the potential to significantly enhance the epidemiological data in several aspects (e.g., distinguishing genetically different clades of syphilis, subtyping inside these clades, and finally, distinguishing different subspecies of non-cultivable pathogenic treponemes). In this short report, we introduce the PubMLST database for treponemal DNA data storage and for assignments of allelic profiles and sequencing types. Moreover, we have summarized epidemiological data of all treponemal strains (
n
= 358) with available DNA sequences in typing loci and found several association between genetic groups and characteristics of patients. This study proposes the establishment of a single MLST of
T. p. pallidum
and encourages researchers and public health communities to use this PubMLST database as a universal tool for molecular typing studies of the syphilis pathogen.

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Metrics

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Citations

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References

Details

Published: Jan 09, 2019
Vol/Issue: 6
Pages: e6182
License: View

Authors

L

Linda Grillova

Biology of Spirochetes Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France

K

Keith Jolley

Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

D

David Šmajs

Department of Biology, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

M

Mathieu Picardeau

Biology of Spirochetes Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France

Funding

Institut Pasteur: PTR grant Award: PTR30-17

Grant Agency of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic Award: 17-31333A

Wellcome Trust Biomedical Resource Grant Award: 104992

Cite This Article

Linda Grillova, Keith Jolley, David Šmajs, et al. (2019). A public database for the new MLST scheme for Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum : surveillance and epidemiology of the causative agent of syphilis. PeerJ, 6, e6182. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6182

A public database for the new MLST scheme for Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum : surveillance and epidemiology of the causative agent of syphilis

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