ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2021
Treponema pallidum genome sequencing from six continents reveals variability in vaccine candidate genes and dominance of Nichols clade strains in Madagascar.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 papers.
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Who cites it
54 citing papers in PubMed, 82 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
- Doxycycline Resistance and 16S rRNA Mutations in Treponema pallidum.Emerging infectious diseases · 2026Article
- The Global Syphilis Epidemic: Turning the Tide.Sexually transmitted diseases · 2026Article
- Phylo-Plex: a phylogenetically informed, low-cost amplicon sequencing platform for deployable high-resolution genomic epidemiology.Nature communications · 2026Article
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- Formal description ofInternational journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology · 2026Article
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- Lineage-specificbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Whole-Genome Analysis of Treponema pallidum Subspecies endemicum among Men Who Have Sex with Men, Japan, 2020-2023.Emerging infectious diseases · 2026Article
- TheJornal brasileiro de doencas sexualmente transmissiveis : DST · 2026Article
- Genomic Analysis of Doxycycline Resistance-Associated 16S rRNA Mutations in Treponema pallidum Subspecies pallidum.Emerging infectious diseases · 2026Article
- A Review of Doxycycline Post-Exposure Prophylaxis and Its Implications for Antimicrobial Resistance and the Human Microbiome.Infectious diseases and therapy · 2026Review
- Analysis ofmSphere · 2025Article
- In vitro analysis of seven syphilis-causing Treponema pallidum strains revealed inherent growth rate differences.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Sequence variability of BamA and FadL candidate vaccinogens suggests divergent evolutionary paths ofJournal of bacteriology · 2025Article
- Article
- Resistance to ceftriaxone and penicillin G among contemporary syphilis strains confirmed by natural in vitro mutagenesis.Communications medicine · 2025Article
- B-Cell Epitope Mapping of theDiagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- In Vitro Exposure of Treponema pallidum to Subbactericidal Doxycycline Did Not Induce Resistance: Implications for Doxycycline Postexposure Prophylaxis.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Evaluating methods for genome sequencing ofMicrobial genomics · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
33 authors at 12 institutions in 8 countries.
Funding
Abstract
In spite of its immutable susceptibility to penicillin, Treponema pallidum (T. pallidum) subsp. pallidum continues to cause millions of cases of syphilis each year worldwide, resulting in significant morbidity and mortality and underscoring the urgency of developing an effective vaccine to curtail the spread of the infection. Several technical challenges, including absence of an in vitro culture system until very recently, have hampered efforts to catalog the diversity of strains collected worldwide. Here, we provide near-complete genomes from 196 T. pallidum strains-including 191 T. pallidum subsp. pallidum-sequenced directly from patient samples collected from 8 countries and 6 continents. Maximum likelihood phylogeny revealed that samples from most sites were predominantly SS14 clade. However, 99% (84/85) of the samples from Madagascar formed two of the five distinct Nichols subclades. Although recombination was uncommon in the evolution of modern circulating strains, we found multiple putative recombination events between T. pallidum subsp. pallidum and subsp. endemicum, shaping the genomes of several subclades. Temporal analysis dated the most recent common ancestor of Nichols and SS14 clades to 1717 (95% HPD: 1543-1869), in agreement with other recent studies. Rates of SNP accumulation varied significantly among subclades, particularly among different Nichols subclades, and was associated in the Nichols A subclade with a C394F substitution in TP0380, a ERCC3-like DNA repair helicase. Our data highlight the role played by variation in genes encoding putative surface-exposed outer membrane proteins in defining separate lineages, and provide a critical resource for the design of broadly protective syphilis vaccines targeting surface antigens.
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