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Journal article

The metabolic, virulence and antimicrobial resistance profiles of colonising Streptococcus pneumoniae shift after PCV13 introduction in urban Malawi

Abstract:
Streptococcus pneumoniae causes substantial mortality among children under 5-years-old worldwide. Polysaccharide conjugate vaccines (PCVs) are highly effective at reducing vaccine serotype disease, but emergence of non-vaccine serotypes and persistent nasopharyngeal carriage threaten this success. We investigated the hypothesis that following vaccine, adapted pneumococcal genotypes emerge with the potential for vaccine escape. We genome sequenced 2804 penumococcal isolates, collected 4-8 years after introduction of PCV13 in Blantyre, Malawi. We developed a pipeline to cluster the pneumococcal population based on metabolic core genes into "Metabolic genotypes" (MTs). We show that S. pneumoniae population genetics are characterised by emergence of MTs with distinct virulence and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) profiles. Preliminary in vitro and murine experiments revealed that representative isolates from emerging MTs differed in growth, haemolytic, epithelial infection, and murine colonisation characteristics. Our results suggest that in the context of PCV13 introduction, pneumococcal population dynamics had shifted, a phenomenon that could further undermine vaccine control and promote spread of AMR
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

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Author
ORCID:
0000-0001-7594-9745
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Author
ORCID:
0000-0001-5285-7039
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Author
ORCID:
0000-0001-8197-658X
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Author
ORCID:
0000-0003-4229-7204
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Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0003-4223-7527


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Funder identifier:
10.13039/501100000265
Grant:
MR/N023129/1
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Funder identifier:
10.13039/100004440
Grant:
206545/Z/17/Z
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Funder identifier:
10.13039/501100000272
Grant:
16/136/46
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Funder identifier:
10.13039/100000865
Grant:
OPP1117653


Publisher:
Nature Research
Journal:
Nature Communications More from this journal
Volume:
14
Issue:
1
Pages:
7477-7477
Article number:
7477
Publication date:
2023-11-17
DOI:
EISSN:
2041-1723
ISSN:
2041-1723


Language:
English
Keywords:
Pubs id:
1572605
Local pid:
pubs:1572605
Source identifiers:
W4388750730
Deposit date:
2026-06-04
ARK identifier:
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