Genetic isolation of meningococci of the electrophoretic type 37 complex.
Neisseria meningitidis (the meningococcus) is a naturally competent bacterial species in which intra- and interspecific horizontal gene transfer is a major source of genetic diversity. In strains of the electrophoretic type 37 (ET-37) complex and of the A4 cluster, we identified genomic DNA coding for a novel restriction-modification system and for the tail of a previously unidentified prophage. Furthermore, a novel 7.2-kb DNA segment restricted to clones of the ET-37 complex and the A4 cluster was isolated and shown to occur both as a plasmid (pJS-B) and as a chromosomal integration. Neither the genomic loci nor pJS-B was present in ET-5 complex, lineage 3, or serogroup A meningococci. The differential distribution of the DNA segments described herein, as well as of opcA, porB, nmeAI, nmeBI, and nmeDI described previously, supports the concept of genetic isolation of hypervirulent lineages responsible for most cases of serogroup C disease worldwide.
Institute for Hygiene and Microbiology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
H
H
Claus
J
J
Stoevesandt
M
M
Frosch
U
U
Vogel
D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000235:genetics; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D015280:DNA Restriction-Modification Enzymes / Q000378:metabolism; D004586:Electrophoresis / Q000379:methods; D004798:Enzymes / Q000032:analysis; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000821:virology; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D015280:DNA Restriction-Modification Enzymes; D004798:Enzymes