title: Genotypic comparison of five isolates of Rickettsia prowazekii by multilocus sequence typing.
abstract: Genetic traits of five Rickettsia prowazekii isolates, including the first from Africa and North America, and representatives from human and flying squirrels were compared using multilocus sequence typing. Four rickettsial genes encoding 17 kDa genus-common antigen (17 kDa gene), citrate synthase (gltA), OmpB immunodominant antigen (ompB) and 120 kDa cytoplasmic antigen (sca4) were examined. Sequence identities of 17 kDa gene and gltA were 100% among the isolates. Limited sequence diversity of ompB (0.02-0.11%) and sca4 (0.03-0.20%) was enough to distinguish the isolates, and evaluation of the combined four genes provided a method to easily differentiate R. prowazekii from other rickettsiae.
authors.affiliation: Rickettsial Diseases Department, Infectious Diseases Directorate, Naval Medical Research Center, MD 20910, USA.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.forename: Ju
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Gregory A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Dasch
authors.forename: Allen L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Richards
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012283:Rickettsia prowazekii / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012589:Sciuridae; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014438:Typhus, Epidemic Louse-Borne / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000662:veterinary
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial