Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41068110›Full record

ArticleNature communications2025

Enhanced virulence and stress tolerance are signatures of epidemiologically successful Shigella sonnei.

Sydney L Miles, Dilys Santillo, Hannah Painter, Kathryn Wright, Vincenzo Torraca, Ana T López-Jiménez, Mollie Virgo, Xosé M Matanza, Abigail Clements, Claire Jenkins and 7 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

17 authors.

Sydney L MilesDepartment of Infection Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2291-4105
Dilys SantilloSection of Paediatric Infectious Disease, Department of Infectious Disease, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0004-3966-4952
Hannah PainterDepartment of Infection Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
Kathryn WrightDepartment of Infection Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6508-3386
Vincenzo TorracaDepartment of Infection Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7340-0249
Ana T López-JiménezDepartment of Infection Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0289-738X
Mollie VirgoDepartment of Infection Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
Xosé M MatanzaCentre for Bacterial Resistance Biology, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Abigail ClementsCentre for Bacterial Resistance Biology, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2285-777X
Claire JenkinsGastrointestinal Bacterial Reference Unit, UK Health Security Agency, London, United Kingdom.
Stephen BakerA*STAR Infectious Disease Labs, Biopolis, Singapore, Singapore.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7797-9080
Kate S BakerDepartment of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5850-1949
David CisnerosWellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine (WWIEM), School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.
Andrea PuharWellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine (WWIEM), School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9915-002X
Vanessa Sancho-ShimizuSection of Paediatric Infectious Disease, Department of Infectious Disease, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3519-0727
Kathryn E HoltDepartment of Infection Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3949-2471
Serge MostowyDepartment of Infection Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom. serge.mostowy@lshtm.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7286-6503

Funding

RCUK | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) BB/T008709/1Wellcome TrustWellcome Trust (Wellcome) 206444/Z/17/ZWellcome Trust (Wellcome) 226644/Z/22/Z
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Shigellosis is a leading cause of diarrhoeal deaths, with Shigella sonnei increasingly implicated as a dominant agent. S. sonnei is divided into five monophyletic lineages, yet most infections are caused by a few clonal sub-lineages within Lineage 3 that are quite distinct from the widely used Lineage 2 laboratory strain 53G. Factors underlying the success of these globally dominant lineages remain unclear in part due to a lack of complete genome sequences and animal models. Here, we utilise a novel reference collection of representative Lineage 1, 2 and 3 isolates and find that epidemiologically successful S. sonnei harbour fewer genes encoding putative immunogenic components whilst key virulence-associated regions (including the type three secretion system and O-antigen) remain highly conserved. Using a zebrafish infection model, Lineage 3 isolates proved most virulent, driven by increased dissemination and a greater neutrophil response. These isolates also show increased resistance to complement-mediated killing alongside upregulated expression of group four capsule synthesis genes. Consistently, primary human neutrophil infections revealed an increased tolerance to phagosomal killing. Together, our findings link the epidemiological success of S. sonnei to heightened virulence and stress tolerance, and highlight zebrafish as a valuable platform to illuminate factors underlying establishment of epidemiological success.

Indexed as

Dysentery, BacillaryShigella sonneiStress, PhysiologicalAnimalsDisease Models, AnimalHumansNeutrophilsPhylogenyVirulenceVirulence FactorsZebrafishVirulence Factors

Identifiers

PMID41068110
PMCPMC12511311

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.