title: Molecular typing of Legionella pneumophila from air-conditioning cooling waters using mip gene, SBT, and FAFLP methods.
abstract: Legionella spp. are important waterborne pathogens. Molecular typing has become an important method for outbreaks investigations and source tracking of Legionnaires. In a survey program conducted by the Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, multiple serotypes Legionella pneumophila (L. pneumophila) were isolated from waters in air-conditioning cooling towers in urban Guangzhou region, China between 2008 and 2011. Three genotyping methods, mip (macrophage infectivity potentiator) genotyping, SBT (sequence-based typing), and FAFLP (fluorescent amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis) were used to type these waterborne L. pneumophila isolates. The three methods were capable of typing all the 134 isolates and a reference strain of L. pneumophila (ATCC33153), with discriminatory indices of 0.7034, 0.9218, and 0.9376, for the mip, SBT, and FAFLP methods respectively. Among the 9 serotypes of the 134 isolates, 10, 50, and 34 molecular types were detected by the mip, SBT, and FAFLP methods respectively. The mip genotyping and SBT typing are more feasible for inter-laboratory results sharing and comparison of different types of L. pneumophila. The SBT and FAFLP typing methods were rapid with higher discriminatory abilities. Combinations of two or more of the typing methods enables more accurate typing of Legionella isolates for outbreak investigations and source tracking of Legionnaires.
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou 510440, China; Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China.
authors.forename: Xiangli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou 510440, China.
authors.forename: Juntao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou 510440, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou 510440, China.
authors.forename: Shuiping
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510006, China.
authors.forename: Pinghua
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou 510440, China.
authors.forename: Zhicong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou 510440, China. Electronic address: shouyi_chen@163.com.
authors.forename: Shouyi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000389:Air Conditioning; D054458:Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D002681:China; D003080:Cold Temperature; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D005453:Fluorescence; D060005:Genotyping Techniques; D006801:Humans; D016952:Legionella pneumophila / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007877:Legionnaires' Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology; D058889:Molecular Typing / Q000379:methods*; D019696:Peptidylprolyl Isomerase / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D065288:Serogroup; D014871:Water Microbiology
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; C512922:Mip protein, Legionella pneumophila; D019696:Peptidylprolyl Isomerase
keywords: FAFLP; Legionella pneumophila; Molecular typing; SBT; mip