Bordetella pertussis: Whole Genome Sequence Analysis and its Application to Public Health Laboratory Surveillance

Bordetella pertussis (BP) is a Gram-negative bacterium that causes respiratory infections in humans. Multi-locus sequence types (MLST), virulence factor alleles, and antimicrobial resistance markers are important molecular characteristics of BP that can provide public health officials with information on the continued efficacy of treatment guidelines, the source and spread of infections, and vaccine effectiveness. Determining these characteristics in a rapid, reproducible fashion would be an asset to public health. Short read whole genome sequencing (WGS) of 40 BP isolates and processing by the SRST2 bioinformatic package was able to identify a novel MLST genotype, reveal a significant increase of a virulence factor type compared to previous rates, and confirm the lack of BP antimicrobial resistance to macrolides. Moreover, regions of sequence similarity were also identified that can potentially interfere with the characterization of BP by WGS. This method has potential for laboratory-based public health surveillance of BP.M.Sc