Assessing the geo-temporal genetic diversity and characterising the epigenome of Legionella longbeachae serogroup 1 clinical isolates

Legionella longbeachae, particularly serogroup 1, is the primary cause of Legionnaires’ disease in New Zealand. We have sequenced 60 Legionella longbeachae clinical isolates derived from sporadic cases of Legionnaires’ disease from 8 regions around New Zealand over a 22 year period (1993-2015). One serogroup 1 isolate was also further sequenced to obtain a complete New Zealand reference genome and its associated epigenomic data. The sequences of 54 of the serogroup 1 isolates, including the complete genome, have been utilised to examine geo-temporal genetic relationships between the isolates and characterise the epigenome of this clinically significant species.