Hybrid Vibrio vulnificus

摘要

The recent emergence of the human-pathogenic Vibriovulnificus in Israel was investigated by using multilocusgenotype data and modern molecular evolutionary analysistools. We show that this pathogen is a hybrid organism thatevolved by the hybridization of the genomes from 2 distinctand independent populations. These findings provide clearevidence of how hybridization between 2 existing and non-pathogenic forms has apparently led to the emergence ofan epidemic infectious disease caused by this pathogenicvariant. This novel observation shows yet another way inwhich epidemic organisms arise