Pangenomic Study of Fusobacterium nucleatum Reveals the Distribution of Pathogenic Genes and Functional Clusters at the Subspecies and Strain Levels
Xiaomei Ma, Tianyong Sun, Jiannan Zhou, Mengfan Zhi, Song Shen, Yushang Wang, Xiufeng Gu, Zixuan Li, Haiting Gao, Pingping Wang, Qiang Feng
Abstract
We used F. nucleatum as an example to analyze the genomic characteristics of oral pathogens at the species, subspecies, and strain levels and elucidate the similarities and differences in functional genes and virulence factors among different subspecies/strains of the same oral pathogen. We believe that the unique biological characteristics of each subspecies/strain can be attributed to the differences in functional gene clusters or the presence/absence of certain virulence genes. This study showed that F. nucleatum strains from the same subspecies had similar functional gene compositions, CRISPR types, and secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters, while pathogenic genes, such as virulence genes, antibiotic resistance genes, and GIs, had more strain level specificity. The findings of this study suggest that, for microbial pathogenicity studies, we should carefully consider the subspecies/strains being used, as different strains may vary greatly.