Salmonella paratyphi C: genetic divergence from Salmonella
choleraesuis and pathogenic convergence with Salmonella typhi.
BACKGROUND: Although over 1400 Salmonella serovars cause usually
self-limited gastroenteritis in humans, a few, e.g., Salmonella
typhi and S. paratyphi C, cause typhoid, a potentially fatal
systemic infection. It is not known whether the typhoid agents
have evolved from a common ancestor (by divergent processes) or
acquired similar pathogenic traits independently (by convergent
processes). Comparison of different typhoid agents with non-
typhoidal Salmonella lineages will provide excellent models for
studies on how similar pathogens might have evolved.
METHODOLOGIES/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We sequenced a strain of S.
paratyphi C, RKS4594, and compared it with previously sequenced
Salmonella strains. RKS4594 contains a chromosome of 4,833,080
bp and a plasmid of 55,414 bp. We predicted 4,640 intact coding
sequences (4,578 in the chromosome and 62 in the plasmid) and
152 pseudogenes (149 in the c