title: Mobile genetic elements provide evidence for a bovine origin of clonal complex 17 of Streptococcus agalactiae.
abstract: We sought an explanation for epidemiological changes in Streptococcus agalactiae infections by investigating the link between ecological niches of the bacterium by determining the prevalence of 11 mobile genetic elements. The prevalence of nine of these elements differed significantly according to the human or bovine origin of the isolate. Correlating this distribution with the phylogeny obtained by multilocus sequence analysis, we observed that human isolates harboring GBSi1, a clear marker of the bovine niche, clustered in clonal complex 17. Our results are thus consistent with the emergence of this virulent human clone from a bovine ancestor.
authors.affiliation: Université François-Rabelais, Faculté de Médecine, EA 3854 Bactéries et Risque Materno-Foetal, Laboratoire de Bactériologie, de Tours, 2 bd. Tonnellé, 37032 Tours, France.
authors.forename: Geneviève
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Héry-Arnaud
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bruant
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lanotte
authors.forename: Stella
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brun
authors.forename: Bertrand
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Picard
authors.forename: Agnès
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rosenau
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: van der Mee-Marquet
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rainard
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Quentin
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mereghetti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D006801:Humans; D020071:Interspersed Repetitive Sequences / Q000235:genetics*; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D013290:Streptococcal Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D013292:Streptococcus agalactiae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*