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. 2012 Apr;50(4):1355-61.
doi: 10.1128/JCM.06094-11. Epub 2012 Jan 11.

Multilocus sequence typing of total-genome-sequenced bacteria

Affiliations

Multilocus sequence typing of total-genome-sequenced bacteria

Mette V Larsen et al. J Clin Microbiol. 2012 Apr.

Abstract

Accurate strain identification is essential for anyone working with bacteria. For many species, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) is considered the "gold standard" of typing, but it is traditionally performed in an expensive and time-consuming manner. As the costs of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) continue to decline, it becomes increasingly available to scientists and routine diagnostic laboratories. Currently, the cost is below that of traditional MLST. The new challenges will be how to extract the relevant information from the large amount of data so as to allow for comparison over time and between laboratories. Ideally, this information should also allow for comparison to historical data. We developed a Web-based method for MLST of 66 bacterial species based on WGS data. As input, the method uses short sequence reads from four sequencing platforms or preassembled genomes. Updates from the MLST databases are downloaded monthly, and the best-matching MLST alleles of the specified MLST scheme are found using a BLAST-based ranking method. The sequence type is then determined by the combination of alleles identified. The method was tested on preassembled genomes from 336 isolates covering 56 MLST schemes, on short sequence reads from 387 isolates covering 10 schemes, and on a small test set of short sequence reads from 29 isolates for which the sequence type had been determined by traditional methods. The method presented here enables investigators to determine the sequence types of their isolates on the basis of WGS data. This method is publicly available at www.cbs.dtu.dk/services/MLST.

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Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
MLST results for a P. aeruginosa isolate in the short output format. By use of the MLST Web server, a P. aeruginosa strain that had been sequenced on the Illumina platform generating single reads was typed. For the purpose of the example, we have chosen to show the results obtained by using short sequence reads that assemble into a draft genome with a low N50. Shown are the name of the loci in the MLST scheme, the percentage of nucleotides that are identical in the best-matching MLST allele in the database and the corresponding sequence in the genome (% identity), the length of the alignment between the best-matching MLST allele in the database and the corresponding sequence in the genome (also called the high-scoring segment pair [HSP]), the length of the best-matching MLST allele in the database, the number of gaps in the HSP, and the name of the best-matching MSLT allele. Note that for a perfectly matching allele, the percentage of identity will be 100%, the allele length will equal the HSP length, and the number of gaps will be zero. Green indicates a perfect match, while red indicates an imperfect match.
Fig 2
Fig 2
Distribution of log N50 values for 387 assembled draft genomes.

References

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