title: Genetic diversity and clonal characteristics of ciprofloxacin-resistant meningococcal strains in China.
abstract: The purpose of the present study was to identify the clonal characteristics and gyrA gene diversity of ciprofloxacin-resistant meningococcal strains in China. One hundred and forty-one ciprofloxacin-resistant and 103 ciprofloxacin-susceptible meningococcal strains were selected for multilocus sequence typing. Of these, 54 ciprofloxacin-resistant and 42 ciprofloxacin-susceptible strains were selected for gyrA gene sequencing. Of the three clonal complexes prevalent in China, serogroup A of ST-5 complex (CC5) and serogroup C/B strains of CC4821 had a high proportion of ciprofloxacin resistance, whereas CC11 serogroup W strains were all susceptible. Nucleotide and amino acid sequences of the gyrA gene among ciprofloxacin-resistant strains showed more diversity than those among ciprofloxacin-susceptible strains. All ciprofloxacin-resistant strains had a T91I mutation and the ciprofloxacin-susceptible strains had no T91I mutation. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the gyrA gene sequences of CC4821 serogroup B/C strains, CC11 serogroup W, CC1 serogroup A, ciprofloxacin-susceptible CC5 serogroup A and reference strains had high similarity. By contrast, the ciprofloxacin-resistant CC5 serogroup A strains had a highly conserved gyrA gene sequence which was different (94.8% similarity) from that in the above strains. The results of our investigation showed that the high proportion of ciprofloxacin resistance in Neisseria meningitidis is associated with certain sequence types (STs) or clonal complexes (CCs). The prevalence of certain CCs with a high proportion of ciprofloxacin resistance can facilitate the spread of ciprofloxacin resistance.
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, and State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Bingqing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Huhehaote, PR China.
authors.forename: Yaochun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, and State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, and State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, and State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Pengcheng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, and State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou, PR China.|National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, and State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhujun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shao
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D002939:Ciprofloxacin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D027081:DNA Gyrase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D008589:Meningococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D002939:Ciprofloxacin; D027081:DNA Gyrase