[SCAN] Magnifying the knowledge on Staphylococcus epidermidis by Whole Genome Sequencing analysis

Scan Seminar

Title: Magnifying the knowledge on Staphylococcus epidermidis by Whole Genome Sequencing analysis

Speaker: Maria Miragaia

From: Bacterial Evolution and Molecular Epidemiology Lab, ITQB

Abstrat:

Staphylococcal infections are associated with hundreds of thousands human deaths and cause a huge burden to hospital and patients. The challenges presented by staphylococcal infections have been widely aggravated by the emergence of multidrug resistant strains, which are extremely difficult to treat and requires new prevention and treatment strategies. Staphylococus epidermidis is usually a harmless commensal of our skin, but its clinical relevance has been rising since these bacteria are mainly associated with infections of medical devices, which have been increasingly used in modern medicine. In order to understand the mechanisms behind the change from a commensal to a pathogen we have been dedicated to the study of the molecular epidemiology and evolution of Staphylococcus epidermidis. By using sequencing and whole genome sequencing approaches (WGS) we were able to show that the success of S. epidermidis as a pathogen is associated to the specialisation of a particular clonal lineage that has adapted to hospital environment by increasing recombination and gaining specific genetic proprieties associated to biofilm production, resistance to low pH and antimicrobial resistance.