Investigation of the Genomic and Pathogenic Features of the Potentially Zoonotic Streptococcus parasuis

Recently, Streptococcus suis reference strains of serotype 20, 22, and 26 were reclassified as Streptococcus parasuis. The public health significance of S. parasuis is underestimated due to the lack of clinical isolates. In the present study, we first reported two sporadic S. parasuis infections in humans, after using full-length 16S rRNA and housekeeping genes’ phylogeny and ANI values of genome sequence comparisons to determine the species of their isolates BS26 and BS27. Compared to highly pathogenic S. suis strain P1/7, S. parasuis strains BS26 and BS27 possessed a delayed capacity to initiate lethal infection, which may attribute to the later production of higher level of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Differed to S. suis strain P1/7, S. parasuis strains did not induce significant inflammatory response in the brain of mice. Histopathological changes in liver and lungs were widely present in mice infected with S. parasuis strains. Our data indicated that the pathogenic mechanism of S. parasuis may be different from that of S. suis. Three lineages in the core-genome phylogenetic tree and ten types of cps gene cluster were found in 13 S. parasuis genomes, indicating high heterogeneity of this species. The similarity of CPS structure and antibiotic-resistant genes relative to S. suis indicated the evolutionary affinity between the two species. Our data suggested S. parasuis is a potential zoonotic pathogen and poses severe threat to health of susceptible people. Further study on the epidemiology and public health significance of S. parasuis is urgently necessary.