Open AccessClonal Relationships between Invasive and Noninvasive Lancefield Group C and G Streptococci and emm -Specific Differences in Invasiveness
Author(s) -
Marcos D. Pinho,
José MeloCristino,
Mário Ramirez
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of clinical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.349
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1070-633X
pISSN - 0095-1137
DOI - 10.1128/jcm.44.3.841-846.2006
Subject(s) - pulsed field gel electrophoresis , streptococcus dysgalactiae , typing , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , genotype , streptococcus , serotype , dna profiling , streptococcaceae , group a , gel electrophoresis , virology , genetics , bacteria , dna , medicine , gene , streptococcus agalactiae , antibiotics
Lancefield group G and group C streptococci (GGS and GCS, respectively) are pathogens responsible for a number of life-threatening infections. A collection of 116 recent (1998 to 2004) invasive (n = 28) and noninvasive (n = 88) GGS and GCS clinical isolates from Portugal were characterized. All isolates were identified asStreptococcus dysgalactiae subsp.equisimilis and characterized byemm typing and DNA macrorestriction profiling using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).emm typing revealed the presence of 22 distinct types, including 3 novel types. PFGE identified 14 clones with more than two isolates, but over half of the isolates were concentrated in 3 large clones. Individual clones andemm types showed a low level of association, since the majority of the clones included more than oneemm type and the sameemm type was found among diverse genetic backgrounds. Twoemm types,stg2078 andstg10 , were significantly more frequent among invasive isolates, and another two,stg6792 andstg166b , were present only in noninvasive isolates, suggesting a correlation betweenemm type and invasive disease potential.