parahaemolyticus populations to assess population structure   Number of isolates Standardized index of association Sri Lankan isolates 43 0.8043 (sld) Ecuadorian isolates 30 0.6277 (sld) Isolates from NB-Seas 36 0.6482 (sld) All isolates from this study 130 0.4922 (sld) pubMLST isolates 1089 0.6291 (sld) One isolate per ST 584 0.0841 SBE-��-CD (sld) (sld) significant

linkage disequilibrium. Global analysis To gain an overview of clonal relations within the analyzed strains, a ‘population snapshot’ was obtained via goeBURST analyses (Figure 1A). The strains were assigned to one triplet (ST355-ST410-ST399) and two doublets (ST246-ST56 and ST760-ST412). The remaining 75 STs were singletons. When including double locus variants (DLVs) and triple locus variants (TLVs) as well 6 more doublets were identified (Figure 1B). For these groups, the strains were either isolated from one continent or two, demonstrating the possibility for a global dissemination of CCs. When the level is increased to seven, all STs were connected (Figure 1B). WH-4-023 Figure 1 MSTs based on allelic profiles. Coloring depends Autophagy Compound Library ic50 on geographical

origin of isolates: Asia (red), South America (green), and Europe (blue). Size of circles represents number of isolates with the corresponding ST or pST. Circles surrounded by a light green circle were (sub-) group founders. A Population snapshot based on MLST profiles. STs that differ in one allele are connected via black lines. B FullMST based on MLST profiles. The number of different alleles is indicated in the case of SLVs, DLVs and TLVs. All connections were drawn. SLVs are connected via black, DLVs via dark grey, TLVs via grey and all connection with a higher level via light grey lines. C FullMST based on AA-MLST profiles. The number of different alleles is indicated in the case of DLVs and TLVs all other pSTs are SLVs. To show clonal relationships, an AA-MLST scheme was implemented. When analyzing a ‘population snapshot’ on peptide level, only pST79 and pST164

differed in more than one allele to all other pSTs, leading to a single complex founded by pST1 and pST2 (Figure 1C). Thus the genotypic relatedness was more reliable on peptide level than on Meloxicam nucleotide level. No general clustering of strains from specific geographical regions was observed. The most common pSTs were found on all continents. Nonetheless, one lineage of specific pSTs was identified: pST151 and pST152 exclusively occurred in strains isolated from NB-Seas (Figure 1C). By analyzing our strains in combination with all pubMLST strains, 3 CCs, 6 triplets and 10 doublets contained STs from this study (Additional file 3: Figure S1). Formation of a new CC (with the founder ST412) was observed. ST412 was identified in a prawn associated Ecuadorian strain, whereas three STs of the same CC belonged to potentially pathogenic environmental U.S.