近日,，國(guó)際著名雜志《國(guó)家科學(xué)院院刊》PNAS在線版上刊登了由哈佛大學(xué)公共衛(wèi)生學(xué)院和布洛德研究所共同組成的一個(gè)研究小組研究的最新成果，研究者利用全基因組測(cè)序已經(jīng)追查到去年在歐洲大范圍致病的大腸桿菌（E.coli）暴發(fā)路徑,。這是第一個(gè)采用基因組測(cè)序的方法來研究食源性暴發(fā)的動(dòng)態(tài),，由此為了解未來疫情和傳染病的出現(xiàn)和蔓延提供了新途徑。
據(jù)美國(guó)物理學(xué)家組織網(wǎng)近日?qǐng)?bào)道,，由哈佛大學(xué)公共衛(wèi)生學(xué)院和布洛德研究所共同組成的一個(gè)研究小組,，利用全基因組測(cè)序已經(jīng)追查到去年在歐洲大范圍致病的大腸桿菌（E.coli）暴發(fā)路徑。
這是第一個(gè)采用基因組測(cè)序的方法來研究食源性暴發(fā)的動(dòng)態(tài),，由此為了解未來疫情和傳染病的出現(xiàn)和蔓延提供了新途徑,。這項(xiàng)研究的合作者還包括法國(guó)巴斯德研究所、丹麥國(guó)立血清研究所等,。
在生物學(xué)中,，一個(gè)生物體的基因組是指包含在該生物的DNA（部分病毒是RNA）中的全部遺傳信息。確定哪些DNA變異導(dǎo)致特定性狀或疾病則需要進(jìn)行個(gè)體間比較,。該研究的主要作者,、傳染性疾病動(dòng)態(tài)中心研究者永納坦·格拉德說，尋找疫情暴發(fā)的多種細(xì)菌的基因組之間的差異,，即可得到疫情發(fā)生的線索,。像做偵探工作一樣，研究人員通過這種方式跟蹤疫情,，可了解未來疾病暴發(fā)路徑,。
去年夏天在德國(guó)，因大腸桿菌病毒的肆虐成千上萬人生病,，50多人死亡,，之后在法國(guó)也引起了小范圍的暴發(fā)。研究人員將這兩國(guó)的致病大腸桿菌株對(duì)比分析,，發(fā)現(xiàn)菌株相同,。然而，利用全基因組測(cè)序分析菌株之間的差異時(shí),，研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)：所有與德國(guó)當(dāng)?shù)叵嚓P(guān)暴發(fā)的菌株都幾乎是相同的,，而出現(xiàn)在法國(guó)菌株表現(xiàn)出更大的多樣性，顯示出是從德國(guó)菌株分離出來的一個(gè)子集,。
隨著基因組測(cè)序成本的下降,，未來將其與傳統(tǒng)的流行病學(xué)方法相結(jié)合，可以為人們對(duì)傳染病的出現(xiàn)及蔓延提供更深入的了解,，將有助于指導(dǎo)公共衛(wèi)生預(yù)防措施,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi:10.1073/pnas.1121491109
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Genomic epidemiology of the Escherichia coli O104:H4 outbreaks in Europe, 2011
Grad, Yonatan H.; Lipsitch, Marc; Feldgarden, Michael; Arachchi, Harindra M.; Cerqueira, Gustavo C.; FitzGerald, Michael; Godfrey, Paul; Haas, Brian J.; Murphy, Cheryl I.; Russ, Carsten; Sykes, Sean; Walker, Bruce J.; Wortman, Jennifer R.; Young, Sarah; Zeng, Qiandong; Abouelleil, Amr; Bochicchio, James; Chauvin, Sara; DeSmet, Timothy; Gujja, Sharvari; McCowan, Caryn; Montmayeur, Anna; Steelman, Scott; Frimodt-M?ller, Jakob; Petersen, Andreas M.; Struve, Carsten; Krogfelt, Karen A.; Bingen, Edou
The degree to which molecular epidemiology reveals information about the sources and transmission patterns of an outbreak depends on the resolution of the technology used and the samples studied. Isolates of Escherichia coli O104:H4 from the outbreak centered in Germany in May–July 2011, and the much smaller outbreak in southwest France in June 2011, were indistinguishable by standard tests. We report a molecular epidemiological analysis using multiplatform whole-genome sequencing and analysis of multiple isolates from the German and French outbreaks. Isolates from the German outbreak showed remarkably little diversity, with only two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) found in isolates from four individuals. Surprisingly, we found much greater diversity (19 SNPs) in isolates from seven individuals infected in the French outbreak. The German isolates form a clade within the more diverse French outbreak strains. Moreover, five isolates derived from a single infected individual from the French outbreak had extremely limited diversity. The striking difference in diversity between the German and French outbreak samples is consistent with several hypotheses, including a bottleneck that purged diversity in the German isolates, variation in mutation rates in the two E. coli outbreak populations, or uneven distribution of diversity in the seed populations that led to each outbreak.
