Whole Genome Sequence Analysis of Brucella spp. from Human, Livestock, and Wildlife in South Africa

Koketso Desiree Mazwi; Kgaugelo Edward Lekota; Barbara Akofo Glover; Francis Babaman Kolo; Ayesha Hassim; Jenny Rossouw; Annelize Jonker; Justnya Maria Wojno; Giuseppe Profiti; Pier Luigi Martelli; Rita Casadio; Katiuscia Zilli; Anna Janowicz; Francesca Marotta; Giuliano Garofolo; Henriette van Heerden

doi:10.1007/s12275-024-00155-8

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Whole Genome Sequence Analysis of Brucella spp. from Human, Livestock, and Wildlife in South Africa: Koketso Desiree Mazwi¹, Kgaugelo Edward Lekota², Barbara Akofo Glover¹, Francis Babaman Kolo¹, Ayesha Hassim¹, Jenny Rossouw³, Annelize Jonker¹, Justnya Maria Wojno⁴, Giuseppe Profiti⁵, Pier Luigi Martelli⁵, Rita Casadio⁵, Katiuscia Zilli⁶, Anna Janowicz⁶, Francesca Marotta⁶, Giuliano Garofolo⁶, Henriette van Heerden¹; Journal of Microbiology 2024;62(9):759-773.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-024-00155-8
Published online: July 22, 2024

¹Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, 0110, South Africa
²Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom, 2531, South Africa
³National Institute for Communicable Diseases, A Division of the National Health Laboratory Services, Johannesburg, 2192, South Africa
⁴Lancet Laboratories, Microbiology Laboratory, Century City, Cape Town, 7441, South Africa
⁵Bologna Biocomputing Group, University of Bologna, 40126, Bologna, Italy
⁶National and OIE Reference Laboratory for Brucellosis, Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Abruzzo and Molise Giuseppe Caporale, 64100, Teramo, Italy

Corresponding author: Koketso Desiree Mazwi,
Email: desireemazwi@gmail.com

Koketso Desiree Mazwi and Kgaugelo Edward Lekota contributed equally to this study as co-first authors.

Received: 10 May 2024 • Revised: 11 June 2024 • Accepted: 18 June 2024

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Abstract

Brucellosis is an economically important zoonotic disease affecting humans, livestock, and wildlife health globally and especially in Africa. Brucella abortus and B. melitensis have been isolated from human, livestock (cattle and goat), and wildlife (sable) in South Africa (SA) but with little knowledge of the population genomic structure of this pathogen in SA. As whole genome sequencing can assist to differentiate and trace the origin of outbreaks of Brucella spp. strains, the whole genomes of retrospective isolates (n = 19) from previous studies were sequenced. Sequences were analysed using average nucleotide identity (ANI), pangenomics, and whole genome single nucleotide polymorphism (wgSNP) to trace the geographical origin of cases of brucellosis circulating in human, cattle, goats, and sable from different provinces in SA. Pangenomics analysis of B. melitensis (n = 69) and B. abortus (n = 56) was conducted with 19 strains that included B. abortus from cattle (n = 3) and B. melitensis from a human (n = 1), cattle (n = 1), goat (n = 1), Rev1 vaccine strain (n = 1), and sable (n = 12). Pangenomics analysis of B. melitensis genomes, highlighted shared genes, that include 10 hypothetical proteins and genes that encodes for acetyl-coenzyme A synthetase (acs), and acylamidase (aam) amongst the sable genomes. The wgSNP analysis confirmed the B. melitensis isolated from human was more closely related to the goat from the Western Cape Province from the same outbreak than the B. melitensis cattle sample from different cases in the Gauteng Province. The B. melitensis sable strains could be distinguished from the African lineage, constituting their own African sub-clade. The sequenced B. abortus strains clustered in the C2 lineage that is closely related to the isolates from Mozambique and Zimbabwe. This study identified genetically diverse Brucella spp. among various hosts in SA. This study expands the limited known knowledge regarding the presence of B. melitensis in livestock and humans in SA, further building a foundation for future research on the distribution of the Brucella spp. worldwide and its evolutionary background.

Keywords: B. abortus;B. melitensis;Brucellosis;Human;Livestock;Wildlife

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Whole Genome Sequence Analysis of Brucella spp. from Human, Livestock, and Wildlife in South Africa

J. Microbiol. 2024;62(9):759-773. Published online July 22, 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-024-00155-8

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