Abstract:
Researchers from the University of Calgary and Government of Nunavut, Canada, and from the University of Glasgow, UK, conducted an investigation into muskox mortalities on Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg islands, Nunavut, Canada, from 2021 to 2023. During this time, samples were collected for diagnostic testing, and the bacterium Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae was isolated from the majority of muskox carcasses. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) revealed that a particular clonal strain, known as the Arctic clone, was associated with the majority of cases. It was also isolated from the faeces of birds and carnivores nearby carcass sites, from soil below carcasses, and from insect larvae found on carcasses. This strain has been previously isolated from other islands in the Canadian Arctic archipelago. This dataset comprises WGS data of E. rhusiopathiae that has been publicly deposited in the European Nucleotide Archive from these recent mortality events, as well as from isolates that had been opportunistically collected from other areas in northern Canada between 2015 and 2023. Finally, some previously-described E. rhusiopathiae isolates, collected from different areas of northern Canada between 2013 and 2021, were re-sequenced to obtain better coverage and/or to generate an Arctic clone reference genome. Metadata on the host species, date and location of collection, and sample accession numbers are provided.
This study was supported financially and in kind by the Canada-Inuit Nunangat-United Kingdom (CINUK) Arctic Research Programme (NE/X002616/1, UKRI; 10034609, Polar); the Government of Nunavut Department of Environment; the Polar Continental Shelf Program (PCSP, Project #s 30622, 63222, 32423, 62523, and 62924); the Van Sloun Foundation; the Arthur French Family Foundation; Polar Knowledge Canada (NST-2122-0049), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada - Canada Research Chair in Arctic One Health (NSERC CRC, CRC-2020-00315); Canada North Outfitting, NSERC Discovery Grants Program - Northern Research Supplement (RGPNS-2021-02796); Weber Arctic; Apex Geoscience; American West Metals Ltd.; and Aston Bay Holdings Ltd.
Keywords:
Arctic, Canada, Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, muskox, whole genome sequence
Wooten, M.T., Radhakrishnan, S., Seru, L.V., Mavrot, F., Roberto-Charron, A., Fredlund, M., Mullin, T., ... Kutz, S.J. (2026). Whole genome sequences of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae isolates obtained from investigations of wildlife mortalities in northern Canada from 2013 - 2023 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/e06a885a-42d0-4576-b703-aaec2bdbd83a
| Access Constraints: | This data is under embargo until publication of the associated manuscript. |
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| Use Constraints: | Data supplied under Open Government Licence v3.0 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/. |
| Creation Date: | 2026-03-06 |
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| Dataset Progress: | Complete |
| Dataset Language: | English |
| ISO Topic Categories: |
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| Parameters: |
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| Personnel: | |
| Name | UK Polar Data Centre |
| Role(s) | Metadata Author |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | McCaide T Wooten |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Calgary |
| Name | Sreejith Radhakrishnan |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Glasgow |
| Name | Lakshmi V Seru |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Calgary |
| Name | Fabien Mavrot |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Calgary |
| Name | Amelie Roberto-Charron |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Government of Nunavut |
| Name | Matthew Fredlund |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Government of Nunavut |
| Name | Tabitha Mullin |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Government of Nunavut |
| Name | Olaf A Christensen |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Government of Nunavut |
| Name | Jon Neely |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Government of Nunavut |
| Name | Tapisa Tattuinee |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Government of Nunavut |
| Name | Alyssa Bohart |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Government of Nunavut |
| Name | Sally Qaunaq |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Government of Nunavut |
| Name | Joe Savikataaq Jr |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Government of Nunavut |
| Name | Matilde Tomaselli |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Polar Knowledge Canada |
| Name | Angela Schneider |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Calgary |
| Name | Taya L Forde |
| Role(s) | Investigator, Technical Contact |
| Organisation | University of Glasgow |
| Name | Susan J Kutz |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Calgary |
| Parent Dataset: | N/A |
| Reference: | Wooten, M.T., Forde, T.L., Roberto-Charron, A. et al. Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae clone reemergence in association with a multi-year mass mortality event in high Arctic muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus). Sci Rep 15, 43135 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-27316-y Forde, T., Biek, R., Zadoks, R. et al. Genomic analysis of the multi-host pathogen Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae reveals extensive recombination as well as the existence of three generalist clades with wide geographic distribution. BMC Genomics 17, 461 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-016-2643-0 |
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| Quality: | Deposited sequences were adapter trimmed with Trimmomatic v0.30, and all had a minimum average depth of coverage of 30X. | |
| Lineage/Methodology: | Isolates (n=182) of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae obtained from wildlife carcass sites across northern Canada were fully sequenced for downstream phylogenetic investigation. A further seven isolates that had been previously deposited in public databases were re-sequenced to improve sequencing depth. Sequencing was performed at MicrobesNG (Birmingham, UK) on an Illumina NovaSeq 6000 platform, generating 250 base-pair, paired-end reads with a minimum average coverage depth of 30X. Sequences were adapter trimmed with Trimmomatic v0.30 (Bolger et al., 2014) with a sliding window quality cutoff of Q15. | |
| Temporal Coverage: | |
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| Start Date | 2013-07-06 |
| End Date | 2023-08-28 |
| Spatial Coverage: | |
| Latitude | |
| Southernmost | 61.16189 |
| Northernmost | 80.9365 |
| Longitude | |
| Westernmost | -119.8625 |
| Easternmost | -82.91506 |
| Altitude | |
| Min Altitude | N/A |
| Max Altitude | N/A |
| Depth | |
| Min Depth | N/A |
| Max Depth | N/A |
| Location: | |
| Location | Canada |
| Detailed Location | Candian Arctic Archipelago |
| Location | Canada |
| Detailed Location | Northern Canadian mainland |
| Data Storage: | All genomes were sequenced on an Illumina platform and are available as trimmed, paired-end reads (fastq format) on Sequence Read Archive. These can be accessed using the BioSample_ID as the search query in either NCBI or ENA (see 'Reference Materials' under related URLs section). Alternate_ID is given where the sample was given an ID in a previous publication, which is based on an older and less consistent naming scheme. This old ID has been provided for cross-referencing purposes. Prior_BioSampleID is given where the same isolate was previously sequenced, but was re-sequenced to improve sequencing depth. Sample_State: The majority of muskox carcasses that were encountered were limited to skeletal remains that precluded any meaningful assessment of gross pathological changes to tissues, limiting the types of samples that could be collected (mostly bones for testing the marrow) - this is indicated by ''Old'. 'Fresh' carcasses were those sampled within hours to several days of death where the carcass was mostly intact. Clade refers to phylogenetic grouping within the bacterial species Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, where the numbers are the different 'clades' that have been previously described in Forde et al., 2016. Arctic_clone indicates whether or not whole genome sequencing of a sample revealed a particular clonal strain known as Arctic Clone. |
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