Different region analysis for genotyping Yersinia pestis isolates from China.
BACKGROUND
DFR (different region) analysis has been developed for typing Yesinia pestis in our previous study, and in this study, we extended this method by using 23 DFRs to investigate 909 Chinese Y. pestis strains for validating DFR-based genotyping method and better understanding adaptive microevolution of Y. pestis.


RESULTS
On the basis of PCR and Bionumerics data analysis, 909 Y. pestis strains were genotyped into 32 genomovars according to their DFR profiles. New terms, Major genomovar and Minor genomovar, were coined for illustrating evolutionary relationship between Y. pestis strains from different plague foci and different hosts. In silico DFR profiling of the completed or draft genomes shed lights on the evolutionary scenario of Y. pestis from Y. pseudotuberculosis. Notably, several sequenced Y. pestis strains share the same DFR profiles with Chinese strains, providing data for revealing the global plague foci expansion.


CONCLUSIONS
Distribution of Y. pestis genomovars is plague focus-specific. Microevolution of biovar Orientalis was deduced according to DFR profiles. DFR analysis turns to be an efficient and inexpensive method to portrait the genome plasticity of Y. pestis based on horizontal gene transfer (HGT). DFR analysis can also be used as a tool in comparative and evolutionary genomic research for other bacteria with similar genome plasticity.
Li
Yanjun
Y
Laboratory of Analytical Microbiology, State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, China.
Dai
Erhei
E
Cui
Yujun
Y
Li
Min
M
Zhang
Yujiang
Y
Wu
Mingshou
M
Zhou
Dongsheng
D
Guo
Zhaobiao
Z
Dai
Xiang
X
Cui
Baizhong
B
Qi
Zhizhen
Z
Wang
Zuyun
Z
Wang
Hu
H
Dong
Xingqi
X
Song
Zhizhong
Z
Zhai
Junhui
J
Song
Yajun
Y
Yang
Ruifu
R
D001483:Base Sequence; D002681:China; D017931:DNA Primers; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005838:Genotype; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015010:Yersinia pestis / Q000235:genetics*; D015011:Yersinia pseudotuberculosis / Q000235:genetics
D017931:DNA Primers