ArticlePloS one2011
Genotypic and phenotypic modifications of Neisseria meningitidis after an accidental human passage.
Article in PloS one, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
- Invasive Meningococcal Disease on the Workplaces: a systematic review.Acta bio-medica : Atenei Parmensis · 2017Pooled it
- Neisseria meningitidis filamentous phage MDA promotes colonisation by selecting hyperadhesive pili variants.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Investigation of invasiveFrontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Review
- Sweet complexity:Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2024Review
- Microevolution and Its Impact on Hypervirulence, Antimicrobial Resistance, and Vaccine Escape inMicroorganisms · 2023Review
- Genetic, Functional, and Immunogenic Analyses of theJournal of bacteriology · 2023Article
- Comprehensive Genome Analysis ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Within-host evolution of bacterial pathogens during persistent infection of humans.Current opinion in microbiology · 2022Review
- The Host-Pathogen Interactions and Epicellular Lifestyle ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Review
- Zika Virus Infection During Research Vaccine Development: Investigation of the Laboratory-Acquired InfectionFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Review
- Common Adaptive Strategies Underlie Within-Host Evolution of Bacterial Pathogens.Molecular biology and evolution · 2021Article
- Neisseria meningitidis: using genomics to understand diversity, evolution and pathogenesis.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2020Review
- Meningococcal Disease-Associated Prophage-Like Elements Are Present in Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Some Commensal Neisseria Species.Genome biology and evolution · 2020Article
- Phase-Variable Genotypes Sweetened by Glycosylation Phenotypes.Journal of bacteriology · 2018Article
- Genotypic and Phenotypic Characterization of theJournal of bacteriology · 2018Article
- Autopsy Biosafety: Recommendations for Prevention of Meningococcal Disease.Academic forensic pathology · 2018Review
- Survival of Neisseria meningitidis outside of the host: environmental effects and differences among strains.Epidemiology and infection · 2017Article
- Article
- Neisseria genomics: current status and future perspectives.Pathogens and disease · 2017Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
A scientist in our laboratory was accidentally infected while working with Z5463, a Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A strain. She developed severe symptoms (fever, meningism, purpuric lesions) that fortunately evolved with antibiotic treatment to complete recovery. Pulse-field gel electrophoresis confirmed that the isolate obtained from the blood culture (Z5463BC) was identical to Z5463, more precisely to a fourth subculture of this strain used the week before the contamination (Z5463PI). In order to get some insights into genomic modifications that can occur in vivo, we sequenced these three isolates. All the strains contained a mutated mutS allele and therefore displayed an hypermutator phenotype, consistent with the high number of mutations (SNP, Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) detected in the three strains. By comparing the number of SNP in all three isolates and knowing the number of passages between Z5463 and Z5463PI, we concluded that around 25 bacterial divisions occurred in the human body. As expected, the in vivo passage is responsible for several modifications of phase variable genes. This genomic study has been completed by transcriptomic and phenotypic studies, showing that the blood strain used a different haemoglobin-linked iron receptor (HpuA/B) than the parental strains (HmbR). Different pilin variants were found after the in vivo passage, which expressed different properties of adhesion. Furthermore the deletion of one gene involved in LOS biosynthesis (lgtB) results in Z5463BC expressing a different LOS than the L9 immunotype of Z2491. The in vivo passage, despite the small numbers of divisions, permits the selection of numerous genomic modifications that may account for the high capacity of the strain to disseminate.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.