Open AccessPhylogenetic analysis of Orientia tsutsugamushi strains based on the sequence homologies of 56‐kDa type‐specific antigen genes
Author(s) -
Enatsu Teruyuki,
Urakami Hiroshi,
Tamura Akira
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1999.tb08791.x
Subject(s) - orientia tsutsugamushi , phylogenetic tree , biology , scrub typhus , phylogenetics , type (biology) , sequence analysis , gene , rickettsiales , virology , genetics , ecology
Close and distant relationship among 31 strains of Orientia tsutsugamushi (20, two, one and eight strains were isolated in Japan, Korea, China and southeast Asia, respectively) were clarified using phylogenetic analyses based on homologies of 56‐kDa type‐specific antigen genes. Isolates in Japan, Korea and China were located in eight separate clusters in the phylogenetic tree, and each was designated as JG (Japanese Gilliam type), JP‐1 and JP‐2 (Japanese Karp 1 and 2 types), Kato, Kawasaki, Kuroki, Shimokoshi and LX‐1 types. All isolates originated in southeast Asia, including the prototype Gilliam and Karp strains isolated in Burma and New Guinea, respectively, were distantly located in the phylogenetic tree from those isolates in Japan, Korea and China, indicating that strains of O. tsutsugamushi distributed in northeastern and southeastern Asia are different types.