Heterogeneity in the Frequency and Characteristics of Homologous Recombination in Pneumococcal Evolution

The bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is one of the most important human bacterial pathogens, and a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The pneumococcus is also known for undergoing extensive homologous recombination via transformation with exogenous DNA. It has been shown that recombination has a major impact on the evolution of the pathogen, including acquisition of antibiotic resistance and serotype-switching. Nevertheless, the mechanism and the rates of recombination in an epidemiological context remain poorly understood. Here, we proposed several mathematical models to describe the rate and size of recombination in the evolutionary history of two very distinct pneumococcal lineages, PMEN1 and CC180. We found that, in both lineages, the process of homologous recombination was best described by a heterogeneous model of recombination with single, short, frequent replacements, which we call micro-recombinations, and rarer, multi-fragment, saltational replacements, which we call macro-recombinations. Macro-recombination was associated with major phenotypic changes, including serotype-switching events, and thus was a major driver of the diversification of the pathogen. We critically evaluate biological and epidemiological processes that could give rise to the micro-recombination and macro-recombination processes.Author Summary: Streptococcus pneumoniae, a bacterium commonly carried asymptomatically by children, is a major cause of diseases such as pneumonia and meningitis. The species is genetically diverse and is known to frequently undergo the remarkable process of transformation via homologous recombination. In this process, the bacterial cell incorporates DNA from other, closely related bacteria into its own genome, which can result in the development of antibiotic resistance or allow cells to evade vaccines. Therefore it is important to quantify the impact of this process on the evolution of S. pneumoniae to understand how quickly the species can respond to the introduction of such clinical interventions. In this study we followed the recombination process by studying the evolution of two important and very different lineages of S. pneumoniae, PMEN1 and CC180, using newly available population genomic data. We found that pneumococcus evolves via two distinct processes that we term micro- and macro-recombination. Micro-recombination led to acquisition of single, short DNA fragments, while macro-recombination tended to incorporate multiple, long DNA fragments. Interestingly, macro-recombination was associated with major phenotypic changes. We argue that greater insight into the adaptive role of recombination in pneumococcus requires a good understanding of both rates of homologous recombination and population dynamics of the bacterium in natural populations.