title: Molecular Characterization of Shigella sonnei: An Increasingly Prevalent Etiologic Agent of Shigellosis in Guizhou Province, Southwest of China.
abstract: Shigellosis is a serious problem in Guizhou and Shigella sonnei is an increasingly prevalent etiologic agent of local shigellosis cases. No data, however, are available about the molecular characterization of the local isolates of S. sonnei. We have conducted this study to molecularly characterize the clinical isolates of S. sonnei in Guizhou Province.
  
  
  
  76 S. sonnei isolates, including four isolates from 1974-1982 and 72 isolates from 2008-2010, were used for analysis in this study. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) based on XbaI digestion divided the 76 isolates into 38 PFGE patterns (PT) and 15 PTs were represented by more than one isolates with PT31 (N = 8) containing the most number of isolates, followed with PT2 (N = 6). Multiple-Locus Variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) Analysis (MLVA) based on seven VNTR loci discriminated them into 19 different MLVA types (MTs), and four MTs were represented by more than one isolate with MT4 (N = 39) containing the most number of isolates, followed with MT12 (N = 18). 15 Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) base on 15 loci differentiated the isolates into six sequence types (STs), among which four STs were novel. The most common STs are ST76 (N = 43) and ST116 (N = 25), accounting for 92.1%. Correlation between genetic relationships and geographical origins or isolation years was observed among the isolates studied. Majority of isolates were clustered in accordance with the origin of isolation years based on the genetic data, which were also from similar geographical origins.
  
  
  
  Our results revealed the molecular characteristics including the specific genotypes such as four novel STs, clonal relationship, and genetic changes of local isolates from different years, which enhances our understanding of molecular characteristics of S. sonnei and contributes to the prevention and control of shigellosis in Guizhou Province.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Guizhou Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guiyang, Guizhou, China.
authors.forename: Shijun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Beijing, China.|National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jianping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Guizhou Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guiyang, Guizhou, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Institute of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Guizhou Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guiyang, Guizhou, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Guizhou Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guiyang, Guizhou, China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: You
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Beijing, China.|National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Guizhou Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guiyang, Guizhou, China.
authors.forename: Guangpeng
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph. Guelph, Canada.
authors.forename: Qiangzheng
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Beijing, China.|National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Changyun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Beijing, China.|National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jianguo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Guizhou Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guiyang, Guizhou, China.
authors.forename: Dingming
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D056915:DNA Copy Number Variations; D004405:Dysentery, Bacillary / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D012764:Shigella sonnei / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D020080:Tandem Repeat Sequences