The diversity, evolution and ecology of Salmonella in venomous snakes.

Pulford, Caisey V, Wenner, Nicolas, Redway, Martha L, Rodwell, Ella V, Webster, Hermione J, Escudero, Roberta, Kröger, Carsten, Canals, Rocío, Rowe, Will, Lopez, Javier, Hall, Neil, Rowley, Paul D, Timofte, Dorina, Harrison, Robert, Baker, Kate S and Hinton, Jay C D (2019) 'The diversity, evolution and ecology of Salmonella in venomous snakes.'. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 13, Issue 6, e0007169.

Preview

Text Plos_NTD_13_6_e0007169.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Reptile-associated Salmonella bacteria are a major, but often neglected cause of both gastrointestinal and bloodstream infection in humans globally. The diversity of Salmonella enterica has not yet been determined in venomous snakes, however other ectothermic animals have been reported to carry a broad range of Salmonella bacteria. We investigated the prevalence and diversity of Salmonella in a collection of venomous snakes and non-venomous reptiles.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPLE FINDINGS

We used a combination of selective enrichment techniques to establish a unique dataset of reptilian isolates to study Salmonella enterica species-level evolution and ecology and used whole-genome sequencing to investigate the relatedness of phylogenetic groups. We observed that 91% of venomous snakes carried Salmonella, and found that a diverse range of serovars (n = 58) were carried by reptiles. The Salmonella serovars belonged to four of the six Salmonella enterica subspecies: diarizonae, enterica, houtanae and salamae. Subspecies enterica isolates were distributed among two distinct phylogenetic clusters, previously described as clade A (52%) and clade B (48%). We identified metabolic differences between S. diarizonae, S. enterica clade A and clade B involving growth on lactose, tartaric acid, dulcitol, myo-inositol and allantoin.

SIGNIFICANCE

We present the first whole genome-based comparative study of the Salmonella bacteria that colonise venomous and non-venomous reptiles and shed new light on Salmonella evolution. Venomous snakes examined in this study carried a broad range of Salmonella, including serovars which have been associated with disease in humans such as S. Enteritidis. The findings raise the possibility that venomous snakes could be a reservoir for Salmonella serovars associated with human salmonellosis.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	WC Communicable Diseases > Infection. Bacterial Infections > Enteric Infections > WC 269 Salmonella infections WD Disorders of Systemic, Metabolic or Environmental Origin, etc > Animal Poisons > WD 410 Reptiles
Faculty: Department:	Biological Sciences > Department of Tropical Disease Biology
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007169
Depositing User:	Cathy Waldron
Date Deposited:	28 Jun 2019 15:39
Last Modified:	28 Jun 2019 15:39
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/11118

Statistics

View details

Actions (login required)

Edit Item