A hybrid sub-lineage of Listeria monocytogenes comprising hypervirulent isolates.
Yin YJiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu Province, China. yylan@yzu.edu.cn.
Yao HJiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu Province, China.
Doijad SInstitute of Medical Microbiology, Justus-Liebig University, Giessen, 35394, Germany.
Kong SJiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu Province, China.
Shen YLaboratory of Food Microbiology, Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland.
Cai XJiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu Province, China.
Tan WJiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu Province, China.
Wang YJiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu Province, China.
Feng YJiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu Province, China.
Ling ZJiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu Province, China.
Wang GJiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu Province, China.
Hu YJiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu Province, China.
Lian KJiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu Province, China.
Sun XJiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu Province, China.
Liu YChina Animal Disease Control Center, No.17 Tiangui Street, Daxing District, 102618, Beijing, China.
Wang CChina Animal Disease Control Center, No.17 Tiangui Street, Daxing District, 102618, Beijing, China.
Jiao KJiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu Province, China.
Liu GXuyi Center for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, Xuyi City, Jiangsu Province, China.
Song RJiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu Province, China.
Chen XJiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu Province, China.
Pan ZJiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu Province, China.
Loessner MJLaboratory of Food Microbiology, Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland.
Chakraborty TJiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu Province, China. Trinad.Chakraborty@mikrobio.med.uni-giessen.de.
Jiao XJiangsu Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu Province, China. jiao@yzu.edu.cn.
English
The foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) is a highly heterogeneous species and currently comprises of 4 evolutionarily distinct lineages. Here, we characterize isolates from severe ovine listeriosis outbreaks that represent a hybrid sub-lineage of the major lineage II (HSL-II) and serotype 4h. HSL-II isolates are highly virulent and exhibit higher organ colonization capacities than well-characterized hypervirulent strains of Lm in an orogastric mouse infection model. The isolates harbour both the Lm Pathogenicity Island (LIPI)-1 and a truncated LIPI-2 locus, encoding sphingomyelinase (SmcL), a virulence factor required for invasion and bacterial translocation from the gut, and other non-contiguous chromosomal segments from another pathogenic species, L. ivanovii. HSL-II isolates exhibit a unique wall teichoic acid (WTA) structure essential for resistance to antimicrobial peptides, bacterial invasion and virulence. The discovery of isolates harbouring pan-species virulence genes of the genus Listeria warrants global efforts to identify further hypervirulent lineages of Lm.