title: Genetic diversity among clonal lineages within Escherichia coli O157:H7 stepwise evolutionary model.
abstract: Escherichia coli O157:H7 variants were examined for trait mutations and by molecular subtyping to better define clonal complexes postulated on the O157:H7 evolution model. Strains of beta-glucuronidase-positive, sorbitol-negative O157:H7 isolated in United States and Japan were identical to A5 clonal strain and shared sequence type (ST)-65 by multilocus sequence typing (MLST); thus, they belong in A5. However, these strains exhibited pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) profile differences that suggested genomic divergence between populations. Sorbitol-fermenting O157 (SFO157) strains from Finland, Scotland, and Germany were identical to A4 clonal strain and belong in A4. Some SFO157 strains, isolated years apart and from different countries, had identical PFGE profiles, suggesting a common origin. Despite similarities, some Finnish and Scottish and all of the German strains have ST-75 ("German clone"), whereas others have ST-76, a new variant ("Scottish clone"). MLST of strains in other clonal complexes also discriminated strains thought to be identical and showed that genetic differences will further distinguish clonal populations into subclones.
authors.affiliation: Food and Drug Administration, College Park, Maryland 20740, USA. peter.feng@fda.hhs.gov
authors.forename: Peter C H
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Steven R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Monday
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Lacher
authors.forename: Lesley
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Allison
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Siitonen
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Keys
authors.forename: Marjut
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eklund
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nagano
authors.forename: Helge
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Karch
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Keen
authors.forename: Thomas S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Whittam
mesh_terms: D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field / Q000379:methods; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D019453:Escherichia coli O157 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans