title: Organization of the ribosomal operon 165-235 gene spacer region in representatives of Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
abstract: Ribosomal rRNA gene fragments (rDNA) encompassing part of the 16S rDNA, the 16S-23S rDNA spacer region and part of the 23S rDNA of 229 Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains were enzymatically amplified using conserved primers. The fragments of approximately 1200 bp were subjected to restriction analysis with HinfI. This revealed 13 patterns (patterns I-XIII) of which patterns I (78 strains), II (32 strains), III (38 strains) and IV (56 strains) were the most abundant, comprising 89.1% of the strains. The obtained restriction patterns consisted of 3 to 8 bands, ranging in size from 32 to 854 bp. The sum of the obtained bands was about 1200 bp for patterns I, II, III, IV, V, IX, and XIII. However, for patterns VI, VII, VIII, X, XI and XII, the sum of the bands well exceeded the estimated size of approximately 1200 bp. We demonstrated that this results from sequence divergence in the 4 rRNA operons, present in the genome of N. gonorrhoeae, giving rise to patterns that are a combination of several other patterns.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, University Hospital Antwerp, University of Antwerp, Belgium. vloovere@uia.ua.ac.be
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Van Looveren
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vandamme
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wuyts
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ieven
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Goossens
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000235:genetics*; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific / Q000378:metabolism; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D005260:Female; D020459:Genes, rRNA; D006069:Gonorrhea / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009344:Neisseria gonorrhoeae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D009876:Operon; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics*; D012338:RNA, Ribosomal, 23S / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012338:RNA, Ribosomal, 23S; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific; C032229:GANTC-specific type II deoxyribonucleases