The role of interspecies recombination in the evolution of antibiotic-resistant pneumococci
D'Aeth JC., van der Linden MPG., McGee L., de Lencastre H., Turner P., Song J-H., Lo SW., Gladstone RA., Sá-Leão R., Ko KS., Hanage WP., Breiman RF., Beall B., Bentley SD., Croucher NJ., Corso A., Faccone D., Gagetti P., Brooks AW., Hasanuzzaman M., Malaker R., Saha SK., Davydov A., Titov L., de Cunto Brandileone MC., Almeida SCG., Ip M., Ho PL., Law P., Zhao C., Wang H., Keenan J., Sampane-Donkor E., Veeraraghavan B., Nagaraj G., Ravikumar KL., Givon-Lavi N., Porat N., Benisty R., Dagan R., Bigogo G., Verani J., Kiran A., Everett DB., Cornick J., Alaerts M., Sekaran SD., Clarke SC., Belabbès H., Diawara I., Zerouali K., Elmdaghri N., Moiane B., Sigauque B., Mucavele H., Pollard AJ., Kandasamy R., Carter PE., Obaro S., Shakoor S., Lehmann D., Ford R., Ochoa TJ., Skoczynska A., Sadowy E., Hryniewicz W., Doiphode S., Egorova E., Voropaeva E., Urban Y., Paragi M., Kastrin T., Von Gottberg A., Ndlangisa KM., De Gouveia L., Du Plessis M., Ali M., Wolter N., Madhi SA., Nzenze SA., Srifuengfung S., Kwambana-Adams B., Foster-Nyarko E., Bojang E., Antonio M., Tientcheu P-E., Moïsi J., Nurse-Lucas M., Akpaka PE., Eser ÖK., Maguire A., Aanensen D., Bentley L., Bhai JNNT., Mostowy R., Lees JA., Klugman KP., Hawkins P., Cleary D.
Multidrug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae emerge through the modification of core genome loci by interspecies homologous recombinations, and acquisition of gene cassettes. Both occurred in the otherwise contrasting histories of the antibiotic-resistant S. pneumoniae lineages PMEN3 and PMEN9. A single PMEN3 clade spread globally, evading vaccine-induced immunity through frequent serotype switching, whereas locally circulating PMEN9 clades independently gained resistance. Both lineages repeatedly integrated Tn 916 -type and Tn 1207.1 -type elements, conferring tetracycline and macrolide resistance, respectively, through homologous recombination importing sequences originating in other species. A species-wide dataset found over 100 instances of such interspecific acquisitions of resistance cassettes and flanking homologous arms. Phylodynamic analysis of the most commonly sampled Tn 1207.1 -type insertion in PMEN9, originating from a commensal and disrupting a competence gene, suggested its expansion across Germany was driven by a high ratio of macrolide-to-β-lactam consumption. Hence, selection from antibiotic consumption was sufficient for these atypically large recombinations to overcome species boundaries across the pneumococcal chromosome.