%0 Journal Article %A Colombo, Mauro M. %A Leori, Guido %A Rubino, Salvatore %A Barbato, Antonella %A Cappuccinelli, Piero %T Phenotypic features and molecular characterization of plasmids in Salmonella abortusovis %D 1992 %J Microbiology, %V 138 %N 4 %P 725-731 %@ 1465-2080 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/00221287-138-4-725 %I Microbiology Society, %X Summary: The phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of 69 wild-type strains of Salmonella abortusovis from Sardinia and other Italian regions, representing four different epidemic outbreaks, were studied. Biochemical profiles, pathogenicity factors, resistance to antibacterial drugs and genomic organization were investigated. None of the strains tested showed any haemagglutination with different types of red blood cells, and electron microscopy revealed no fimbriae. Adhesivity to epithelial cells was present in all strains tested. Only 16% of the strains were resistant to streptomycin, and no other drug resistances were found. The restriction patterns of chromosomal DNA did not show heterogeneity and a high-molecular-mass (50-67 kb) plasmid was found in all strains. Restriction analysis of plasmid DNA from strains from different geographical areas, collected over a period of 30 years, showed a HindIII restriction profile characterized by two patterns, one with three fragments, stable and common to all strains, and a second polymorphic pattern with five fragments. The stable pattern included a 3ยท7 kb HindIII fragment that hybridized with a S. typhimurium probe containing a virulence region including the spvC and spvD genes. These studies allowed us to outline a genetic correlation among S. abortusovis isolated from different outbreaks. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-138-4-725