1887

Abstract

The aim of this work was to characterize a 2·4 kb randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fragment described as a marker for a phylogenetic group of strains significantly associated with neonatal meningitis. This fragment was analysed by cloning and sequencing, and showed that two types of tRNA gene cluster flank the 3′ end of the rRNA operons in strains. Both types of tRNA gene cluster act as markers for phylogenetic subgroups of strains within the species. One type could be used to distinguish two of the three virulent intraspecies subgroups to which most of the strains able to invade the central nervous system of neonates belong. This raises the possibility that there is a link between these tRNA genes and the virulence of the bacterium. Based on this analysis, PCR primers were designed to determine whether strains are likely to belong to lineages of organisms in which most of the highly virulent strains isolated from cerebrospinal fluid cluster. In addition, this work demonstrated that RAPD can be used to detect novel particularities within intraspecies variants of pathogens.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-148-5-1493
2002-05-01
2024-04-19
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/micro/148/5/1481493a.html?itemId=/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-148-5-1493&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Baker C. J. 1997; Group B streptococcal infections. Clin Perinatol 24:59–70
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Baker C. J., Edwards M. S. 1995; Group B streptococcal infections. In Infectious Diseases of the Fetus and Newborn Infant pp 980–1054 Edited by Remington J. S. Klein J. O. Philadelphia, PA: The W.B. Saunders Company;
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Björk G. R., Durand M. D., Hagervall T. G., Leipuviene R., Lundgren H. K., Nilsson K., Chen P., Qian Q., Urbonavicius J. 1999; Transfer RNA modification: influence on translational frameshifting and metabolism. FEBS Lett 452:47–51 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Chatellier S., Huet H., Kenzi S., Rosenau A., Geslin P., Quentin R. 1996; Genetic diversity of rRNA operons of unrelated Streptococcus agalactiae strains isolated from cerebrospinal fluid of neonates suffering from meningitis. J Clin Microbiol 34:2741–2747
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Chatellier S., Ramanantsoa C., Harriau P., Rolland K., Rosenau A., Quentin R. 1997; Characterization of Streptococcus agalactiae strains by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA analysis. J Clin Microbiol 35:2573–2579
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Dimitriev A., Surovov A., Totolian A. A. 1998; Physical and genetic chromosomal maps of Streptococcus agalactiae , serotypes II and III; rRNA operon organization. FEMS Microbiol Lett 167:33–39 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Durand J. M. B., Kuwae A., Yoshikawa M., Sasakawa C., Björk G. R. 1997; The modified nucleoside 2-methylthio- N 6-isopentenyladenosine in tRNA of Shigella flexneri is required for expression of virulence genes. J Bacteriol 179:5777–5782
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Geslin P., Sissia G., Fremaux A., Jelı́nková J., Motolová J. 1992; Serotype distribution of group B streptococci isolated from human sources in France over a 10-year period (1980–1989). Zentbl Bakteriol Suppl 22:484–485
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Granlund M., Sellin M., Norgren M., Öberg L. 1998; Identification of a novel insertion element, IS 1548 , in group B streptococci, predominantly in strains causing endocarditis. J Infect Dis 177:967–976 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Hacker J., Blum-Oehler G., Mühldorfer I., Tschäpe H. 1997; Pathogenicity islands of virulent bacteria: structure, function and impact on microbial evolution. Mol Microbiol 23:1089–1097 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Helmig R., Uldbjerg N., Boris J., Kilian M. 1993; Clonal analysis of Streptococcus agalactiae isolated from infants with neonatal sepsis or meningitis and their mothers and from healthy pregnant women. J Infect Dis 168:904–909 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Hou Y.-M. 1999; Transfer RNAs and pathogenicity islands. Trends Biochem Sci 24:295–298 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Musser J. M., Mattingly S. J., Quentin R., Goudeau A., Selander R. K. 1989; Identification of a high-virulence clone of type III Streptococcus agalactiae (group B Streptococcus ) causing invasive neonatal disease. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 86:4731–4735 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Quentin R., Huet H., Wang F.-S., Geslin P., Goudeau A., Selander R. K. 1995; Characterization of Streptococcus agalactiae strains by multilocus enzyme genotype and serotype: identification of multiple virulent clone families that cause invasive neonatal disease. J Clin Microbiol 33:2576–2581
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Rolland K., Marois C., Siquier V., Cattier B., Quentin R. 1999; Genetic features of Streptococcus agalactiae strains causing severe neonatal infections, as revealed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and hylB gene analysis. J Clin Microbiol 37:1892–1898
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Sanger F. 1975; Determination of nucleotide sequences in DNA. Science 214:1205–1210
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Saunders G. C., Dukes J., Parkes H. C., Cornett J. H. 2001; Interlaboratory study on thermal cycler performance in controlled PCR and random amplified polymorphic DNA analyses. Clin Chem 47:47–55
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Schuchat A. 1999; Group B Streptococcus. Lancet 353:II51–56 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-148-5-1493
Loading
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-148-5-1493
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error