Genetic diversity of penicillin-resistant Neisseria meningitidis.
The genetic relatedness of 42 penicillin-resistant Neisseria meningitidis isolates obtained during a 2-year period from a single hospital was studied by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis and by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of penicillin-binding protein (PBP) 2 genes. The PBP 2 genes of 7 susceptible strains gave identical RFLP profiles. Sixteen different PBP 2 RFLP profiles were found among the 42 resistant strains, but 4 were found in greater than 1 resistant isolate. Multilocus enzyme electrophoresis revealed a high level of genetic diversity. Four clusters of resistant strains could be distinguished at a genetic distance of 0.75. Resistant strains with the most common PBP 2 RFLP profile were restricted to one of these clusters and may be derived from a common ancestral strain. However, resistant strains with the 3 other common RFLP profiles were distributed in two or more of the clusters.
Campos
J
J
Department of Microbiology, Hospital de Sant Joan de Deu, Barcelona, Spain.
Fusté
M C
MC
Trujillo
G
G
Sáez-Nieto
J
J
Vázquez
J
J
Lorén
J G
JG
Viñas
M
M
Spratt
B G
BG
D000293:Adolescent; D000668:Ampicillin Resistance / Q000235:genetics; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001483:Base Sequence; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D015342:DNA Probes / Q000737:chemistry; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry; D004798:Enzymes / Q000032:analysis; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006602:Hexosyltransferases / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009097:Multienzyme Complexes / Q000235:genetics; D002267:Muramoylpentapeptide Carboxypeptidase; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D010403:Penicillin Resistance / Q000235:genetics*; D046915:Penicillin-Binding Proteins; D010458:Peptidyl Transferases / Q000235:genetics; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D015342:DNA Probes; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004798:Enzymes; D009097:Multienzyme Complexes; D046915:Penicillin-Binding Proteins; D010458:Peptidyl Transferases; D006602:Hexosyltransferases; D002267:Muramoylpentapeptide Carboxypeptidase