Using genomics to understand bacterial pathogen evolution

By MCRI

The World Pneumonia Day seminar will focus on the major respiratory pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae, highlighting the ways in which genomics has been applied to understand the species diversity and mechanisms of evolution. We will consider how the circulating multi-strain population fluctuates over time and adapts to various selective pressures including the widespread implementation of vaccines. The anti-pneumococcal vaccines have been highly effective in reducing infant mortality globally but have limited strain coverage and are thus susceptible to evasion by the non-susceptible portion of the pathogen population. Using genomics we have been able to conduct high resolution analyses of key features of pneumococcal biology such as recombination, transmission and migration and are trying to apply insights to guide disease prevention strategies. This work has been empowered by a global network of partners in >50 countries including public health practitioners and researchers conducting largescale cohort studies.

Professor Stephen Bentley leads a research team at the Wellcome Sanger Institute near Cambridge in the UK. Over the last two decades his research has pioneered the application of genomic technologies to understand the biology of bacterial pathogens. Over that period his work has developed from annotation of genes in the early reference genomes, through the emergence of population genomics, to the current developments in respiratory metagenomics and mathematical modelling of evolution and spread. Stephen is the Director of the Global Pneumococcal Sequencing project which was established in 2011 and has been a driving force in the use of genomics in pathogen surveillance.