canis’s ability to infect a wide range of tissue types. Furthermore, the putative ancestral clonal complex

(accounting for more than half of see more collected isolates) occurred in a wide range of tissue types, all hosts, and all geographic locations suggesting a wide and diverse niche. It has been demonstrated that the source of bovine S. canis infection can be other farm-yard animals such as domestic cats [12]. Our results, revealed high genetic similarity among bovine, feline, and canine sourced isolates further supporting domestic farm-yard animals as infection sources. Despite the modest level of recombination for S. canis when compared to other Streptococcus species, LGT is still GSK872 order clearly an important evolutionary phenomenon in this species as evidenced by the multiple MGE present within its genome (i.e. plasmid, phage, and ICE) and the occurrence of an integrative plasmid in approximately half of the collected isolates. Furthermore, the evidence for LGT between S. canis and two additional bovine mastitis causing pathogens (S. agalactiae, and S. dysgalactiae subsp. dysgalactiae) suggests a close association with the bovine environment for S. canis, with this LGT possibly contributing to adaptation to this environment. Many virulence factors Osimertinib mouse are also carried within

these MGE, further highlighting the importance of these mobile elements in the evolution of this pathogen. Furthermore, the high frequency of virulence factors within multiple MGE, coupled with LGT between S. canis and a human sourced bacteria (S. urinalis), suggests the possibility for additional transport of virulence factors into the human

environment. Methods Strain selection, sequencing, and assembly S. canis strain FSL Z3-227 was isolated from a composite milk sample obtained from a cow with an intra-mammary infection. The sample was collected on the 6th of April 1999 from a cow located in Exoribonuclease central New York State within a dairy herd experiencing an outbreak of S. canis induced mastitis. Bacterial culture and ribotyping results indicated that a farm cat with chronic sinusitus was the likely source of the outbreak [12]. Utilizing a seven-gene MLST scheme developed here (see below), strain FSL Z3-227 was determined to be ST1. This ST was associated with multiple host species (bovine, canine, feline). In addition, it was the most common ST among bovine isolates and the only ST to be found in all three countries represented in the study. Therefore, it was thought to have the potential to have a broad complement of virulence factors, including those potentially associated with niche adaptation in cattle, and was consequently selected for genome sequencing. Roche/454 pyrosequencing was used to determine the genome sequence, and Newbler v1.1 (454 Life Sciences Corporation) was used to assemble the reads. Using restriction enzyme BgIII, an optical map of the genome was built by OpGen Technologies, Inc. (Madison, WI).