Salmonella Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Salmonella, including details on salmonella typhimurium, food poisoning, infection, treatment.

Evolutionary history of Salmonella typhi.

Roumagnac P, Weill FX, Dolecek C, Baker S, Brisse S, Chinh NT, Le TA, Acosta CJ, Farrar J, Dougan G, Achtman M

Max-Planck-Institut für Infektionsbiologie, Department of Molecular Biology, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.

For microbial pathogens, phylogeographic differentiation seems to be relatively common. However, the neutral population structure of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi reflects the continued existence of ubiquitous haplotypes over millennia. In contrast, clinical use of fluoroquinolones has yielded at least 15 independent gyrA mutations within a decade and stimulated clonal expansion of haplotype H58 in Asia and Africa. Yet, antibiotic-sensitive strains and haplotypes other than H58 still persist despite selection for antibiotic resistance. Neutral evolution in Typhi appears to reflect the asymptomatic carrier state, and adaptive evolution depends on the rapid transmission of phenotypic changes through acute infections.

Published 24 November 2006 in Science, 314(5803): 1301-4.
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