Molecular Epidemiology and Evolution of Corynebacterium diphtheriae and Vibrio cholerae
type: CreativeWork
description: Molecular Epidemiology and Evolution of Corynebacterium diphtheriae and Vibrio cholerae Robert C. Will The infectious diseases diphtheria and cholera affect thousands of people around the world every year, and are caused by the bacterial species Corynebacterium diphtheriae and Vibrio cholerae respectively. While the two pathogens appear quite different biologically, diphtheria and cholera do share key similarities, including the fact that both diseases are intrinsically linked with poverty, outbreaking rapidly in areas of social turmoil, and during both natural and man-made disasters. Both are also highly treatable and survivable with the right resources available, including antibiotics and antitoxins. Vaccines are also available against both causative agents, although the diphtheria toxoid vaccine is in much wider use than cholera vaccine. In this thesis I have used genomics to investigate the epidemiology and evolution of both pathogens in global and national settings. For C. diphtheriae, we assembled a large collection of sequenced genomes to investigate the evolutionary and population dynamics of the pathogen across the globe. We added a focus on India as the country with the highest number of reported cases in recent years. We identified multiple large phylogenetic clades of the species circulating across geography and time concurrently. Using this collection, we also identified the presence of antimicrobial resistance determinant genes in recently isolated C. diphtheriae. In addition, we categorised a series of variants of the diphtheria toxin gene tox from isolates around the world, several of which were non-synonymous and estimated to have an impact on the 3D structure of the toxin protein. In V. cholerae, we investigated the intriguing population and evolutionary dynamics of cholera in Ghana, presenting a picture of time-separated clades circulating around neighbouring countries in West Africa. We also highlight the increasing presence of AMR in West Africa…
abstract: Molecular Epidemiology and Evolution of Corynebacterium diphtheriae and Vibrio cholerae Robert C. Will The infectious diseases diphtheria and cholera affect thousands of people around the world every year, and are caused by the bacterial species Corynebacterium diphtheriae and Vibrio cholerae respectively. While the two pathogens appear quite different biologically, diphtheria and cholera do share key similarities, including the fact that both diseases are intrinsically linked with poverty, outbreaking rapidly in areas of social turmoil, and during both natural and man-made disasters. Both are also highly treatable and survivable with the right resources available, including antibiotics and antitoxins. Vaccines are also available against both causative agents, although the diphtheria toxoid vaccine is in much wider use than cholera vaccine. In this thesis I have used genomics to investigate the epidemiology and evolution of both pathogens in global and national settings. For C. diphtheriae, we assembled a large collection of sequenced genomes to investigate the evolutionary and population dynamics of the pathogen across the globe. We added a focus on India as the country with the highest number of reported cases in recent years. We identified multiple large phylogenetic clades of the species circulating across geography and time concurrently. Using this collection, we also identified the presence of antimicrobial resistance determinant genes in recently isolated C. diphtheriae. In addition, we categorised a series of variants of the diphtheria toxin gene tox from isolates around the world, several of which were non-synonymous and estimated to have an impact on the 3D structure of the toxin protein. In V. cholerae, we investigated the intriguing population and evolutionary dynamics of cholera in Ghana, presenting a picture of time-separated clades circulating around neighbouring countries in West Africa. We also highlight the increasing presence of AMR in West Africa…
author: Will, Robert
language: eng
keywords: Corynebacterium diphtheriae, Vibrio cholerae, Microbiology, Infectious Diseases, Evolution, Epidemiology, Diphtheria, Cholera, Phylogenetics
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2021-09-20
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:31Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.81504