title: Differentiation of leptospires of the serogroup Pomona by monoclonal antibodies, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction.
abstract: All reference strains described as representing separate serovars belonging to the serogroup Pomona and a clinical leptospiral isolate (LP2) from this serogroup were analyzed using a battery of 9 monoclonal antibodies, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction (AP-PCR). Monoclonal antibody analysis provided taxonomic results which were in agreement with the current classification of the serogroup Pomona into six serovars and allowed the classification of the isolate LP2 in the serovar pomona. PFGE and AP-PCR, although in general agreement with monoclonal antibody analysis, also were able to demonstrate some differences in the restriction patterns of strains Pomona, Monjakov and CB. These results indicate that these strains, grouped within serovar pomona after the introduction of bacterial restriction endonuclease analysis as the typing method, but formerly described as representing separate serovars (pomona, monjakov and cornelli, respectively), are similar but not identical to one another. This was also the case with strains 5621, the serovar mozdok reference strain, and K1, formerly described as serovar dania reference strain, but currently recognized to be a mozdok-like strain. These findings suggest that the deletion of some serovars within the serogroup Pomona, namely mozdok, cornelli, and dania, should be reconsidered. Thus, PFGE appears to be a useful tool for the serovar identification of leptospires belonging to the serogroup Pomona and for shedding light on the problem of their classification.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bacteriology and Medical Mycology, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy. ciceroni@iss.it
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ciceroni
authors.forename: Simonetta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ciarrocchi
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ciervo
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Petrucca
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Calderaro
authors.forename: Isabella
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Viani
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Galati
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dettori
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chezzi
mesh_terms: D000372:Agglutination Tests; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D006801:Humans; D007919:Leptospira / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D007922:Leptospirosis / Q000382:microbiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D012703:Serotyping
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D004269:DNA, Bacterial