ArticleNature microbiology2016
Genome-scale analysis of the non-cultivable Treponema pallidum reveals extensive within-patient genetic variation.
Article in Nature microbiology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers.
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Who cites it
63 citing papers in PubMed, 107 citations in OpenAlex.
- Oral linezolid compared with benzathine penicillin G for treatment of early syphilis in adults (Trep-AB Study) in Spain: a prospective, open-label, non-inferiority, randomised controlled trial.The Lancet. Infectious diseases · 2024Trial
- A new core-genome MLST approach for Chlamydia trachomatis genomic surveillance and research.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Phylo-Plex: a phylogenetically informed, low-cost amplicon sequencing platform for deployable high-resolution genomic epidemiology.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Analysis ofmSphere · 2025Article
- PathoGD: an integrative genomics approach to primer and guide RNA design for CRISPR-based diagnostics.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Insights into Treponema pallidum genomics from modern and ancient genomes using a novel mapping strategy.BMC biology · 2025Article
- Clinical Presentation of Early Syphilis and Genomic Sequences of Treponema pallidum Strains in Patient Specimens and Isolates Obtained by Rabbit Inoculation.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2024Article
- High increase of Nichols-like clade circulating Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum in Barcelona from 2021 to 2023.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Molecular investigation ofMicrobiology spectrum · 2024Article
- Turning the needle into the haystack: Culture-independent amplification of complex microbial genomes directly from their native environment.PLoS pathogens · 2024Review
- Hybrid-Capture Target Enrichment in Human Pathogens: Identification, Evolution, Biosurveillance, and Genomic Epidemiology.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Article
- The genomes of the yaws bacterium, Treponema pallidum subsp. pertenue, of nonhuman primate and human origin are not genomically distinct.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2023Article
- Longitudinal Variations in theMicrobiology spectrum · 2023Article
- Review
- Core genome sequencing and genotyping of Leptospira interrogans in clinical samples by target capture sequencing.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Article
- Molecular Capture ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Strengthening the genomic surveillance ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2023Article
- Article
- Article
3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Insights into the genomic adaptive traits of Treponema pallidum, the causative bacterium of syphilis, have long been hampered due to the absence of in vitro culture models and the constraints associated with its propagation in rabbits. Here, we have bypassed the culture bottleneck by means of a targeted strategy never applied to uncultivable bacterial human pathogens to directly capture whole-genome T. pallidum data in the context of human infection. This strategy has unveiled a scenario of discreet T. pallidum interstrain single-nucleotide-polymorphism-based microevolution, contrasting with a rampant within-patient genetic heterogeneity mainly targeting multiple phase-variable loci and a major antigen-coding gene (tprK). TprK demonstrated remarkable variability and redundancy, intra- and interpatient, suggesting ongoing parallel adaptive diversification during human infection. Some bacterial functions (for example, flagella- and chemotaxis-associated) were systematically targeted by both inter- and intrastrain single nucleotide polymorphisms, as well as by ongoing within-patient phase variation events. Finally, patient-derived genomes possess mutations targeting a penicillin-binding protein coding gene (mrcA) that had never been reported, unveiling it as a candidate target to investigate the impact on the susceptibility to penicillin. Our findings decode the major genetic mechanisms by which T. pallidum promotes immune evasion and survival, and demonstrate the exceptional power of characterizing evolving pathogen subpopulations during human infection.
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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.