title: Variation at the capsule locus, cps, of mistyped and non-typable Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates.
abstract: The capsule polysaccharide locus (cps) is the site of the capsule biosynthesis gene cluster in encapsulated Streptococcus pneumoniae. A set of pneumococcal samples and non-pneumococcal streptococci from Denmark, the Gambia, the Netherlands, Thailand, the UK and the USA were sequenced at the cps locus to elucidate serologically mistyped or non-typable isolates. We identified a novel serotype 33B/33C mosaic capsule cluster and previously unseen serotype 22F capsule genes, disrupted and deleted cps clusters, the presence of aliB and nspA genes that are unrelated to capsule production, and similar genes in the non-pneumococcal samples. These data provide greater understanding of diversity at a locus which is crucial to the antigenic diversity of the pathogen and current vaccine strategies.
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Salter
authors.affiliation: St George's, University of London, UK.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hinds
authors.affiliation: St George's, University of London, UK.
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Gould
authors.affiliation: Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lambertsen
authors.affiliation: Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: W P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Hanage
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council Laboratories, Fajara, The Gambia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Antonio
authors.affiliation: Centre for Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford, UK.|Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, Mae Sot, Thailand.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.affiliation: Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: P W M
authors.initials: PWM
authors.lastname: Hermans
authors.affiliation: Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Bootsma
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK.
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Bentley
mesh_terms: D016667:Bacterial Capsules / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017353:Gene Deletion; D056426:Genetic Loci; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D011018:Pneumonia, Pneumococcal / Q000382:microbiology*; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins