title: A lack of genetic basis for biovar differentiation in clinically important Corynebacterium diphtheriae from whole genome sequencing.
abstract: The differentiation of clinically important Corynebacterium diphtheriae into specific biovars is complex and phylogenetically unclear. Comparative genomic analyses of 17 strains indicate that the division of C. diphtheriae into different biovars does not correlate with the variation in the gene content in the relevant metabolic categories that are potentially involved in the biovar discrimination. The biochemical separation is also not supported by phylogenetic analyses, suggesting molecular methods of typing C. diphtheriae strains should be adopted much more widely.
authors.affiliation: Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde, 161 Cathedral Street, Glasgow G4 0RE, UK.
authors.forename: Vartul
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sangal
authors.affiliation: Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Burkovski
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZN, UK.
authors.forename: Alison C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Hunt
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Department, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, 51 Little France Cresent, Old Dalkeith Road, Edinburgh EH16 4SA, UK.
authors.forename: Becky
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics Resource Facility, Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec), Bielefeld University, Germany.
authors.forename: Jochen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Blom
authors.affiliation: Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde, 161 Cathedral Street, Glasgow G4 0RE, UK. Electronic address: paul.hoskisson@strath.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Hoskisson
mesh_terms: D003353:Corynebacterium diphtheriae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D023281:Genomics; D010614:Pharynx / Q000382:microbiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
keywords: Biovar; Corynebacterium diphtheriae; Gene contents; Genomic comparison; Pseudogenes; SNPs