title: The sigH gene sequence can subspeciate staphylococci.
abstract: In an evolutionarily conserved gene organization (syntenic region), the sigH gene shares exceptionally low homology among staphylococcal species. We analyzed the "positionally cloned" sigH sequences of 39 staphylococcal species. The topology of the SigH phylogenetic tree was consistent with that of 16S rRNA. Certain clinical isolates were successfully differentiated at the species level with the sigH sequence data set. We propose that the sigH gene is a promising molecular target in genotypic identification because it is highly discriminative in differentiating closely related staphylococcal species.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8575, Japan. morikawa@sakura.cc.tsukuba.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kazuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Morikawa
authors.forename: Ryosuke L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Ohniwa
authors.forename: Miyuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kumano
authors.forename: Hideyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okamura
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Toshiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohta
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D012808:Sigma Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; C120328:SigH protein, bacteria; D012808:Sigma Factor