title: [The relationship of plasmids from environmental Yersinia isolates and the virulence plasmid of enteropathogenic Yersinia strains].
abstract: The human pathogenic strains of Yersinia harbour a conserved plasmid carrying the Yop virulon. The virulence plasmid of Yersinia enterocolitica strains belonging to the serogroups O:3 and O:9 were used as probes to detect homologous sequences in plasmids of "avirulent" Yersinia strains. "Avirulent" Yersinia strains (Y. enterocolitica biogroup 1A, Y. intermedia, Y. kristensenii and Y. frederiksenii) lack the virulence plasmid. They are widely distributed in the environment and can frequently be isolated from clinical samples. Hybridisation experiments revealed a number of common genetic elements of the virulence plasmid and the plasmids of "avirulent" Yersinia strains. These elements were identified as genes involved in plasmid replication, as an endonuclease gene and as mobile genetic elements. However, none of the plasmid encoded virulence genes was present in the plasmids of "avirulent" Yersinia strains. The frequent occurrence and the possible etiological relevance of "avirulent" isolates will be discussed.
authors.affiliation: Robert Koch-Institut Berlin, Projekt Horizontaler Gentransfer, Nordufer 20, D-13353 Berlin.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Strauch
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Appel
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nattermann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D010957:Plasmids / Q000032:analysis*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics; D015007:Yersinia / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial
vernacular_title: Untersuchungen zur Verwandtschaft der Plasmide aus Yersinia-Umweltisolaten und dem Virulenzplasmid enteropathogener Yersinien.