Experiences and challenges of joining a platform trial of Staph aureus bacteraemia in an LMIC- South Africa's experience of the SNAP trial

each country clustered together in close vicinity with each other, indicating a geographical sub-structuring in the B. vogeli populations.Nucleotide and amino acid sequences exhibited 99.0-100% and 98.7-100% similarity among themselves, respectively.The Bv1 and Bv2 subclades revealed 99.0 and 100% nucleotide, and 98.7% and 100% amino acid similarity between and within them, respectively.No nucleotide variations were observed within Bv1 and Bv2 subclades; but sequence variations were observed at seven places (G92A, C170T, G324A, C438A, G465A, T488C and A659G) between them.Out of these mutations, four were synonymous (G92A, C170T, T488C and A659G), and three were non-synonymous (G324A, C438A and G465A) resulting in amino acid substitutions at three places (V108I, L146I and V155I).Within different B. vogeli populations, the nucleotide and haplotype diversities were low.The median-joining haplotype network displayed only two haplotypes (Hap_1 and Hap_2).The major haplotype, Hap_1, was recorded from India, China and USA; whereas, the minor haplotype (Hap_2), represented by the two newly generated sequences (OR577231 and OR577243), was documented only from India.The statistically significant pairwise genetic distance between the Indian and Chinese populations indicated a moderate genetic differentiation (FST = 0.05; P < 0.05).Contrary to the FST index, a very high gene flow (Nm = 4.75) was recorded between these populations.Neutrality tests and mismatch distributions for the Indian population and overall dataset of B. vogeli indicated a constant population size.Discussion: Genetic characterization of the cyt b gene established it as a useful genetic marker to study the genetic diversity, evolution and relationship among isolates.Conclusion: This is the first report providing an insight into the genetic characterization, population genetics and haplotype network of B. vogeli based on the cyt b gene.