A polymorphic tandem repeat potentially useful for typing in the chromosome of Yersinia enterocolitica

• Published in: Microbiology (Society for General Microbiology) Vol. 150; no. 1; pp. 199 - 204
• Main Authors: de Benito, Ines, Cano, Maria Eliecer, Aguero, Jesus, Lobo, Juan M. Garcia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Reading Soc General Microbiol 01.01.2004; Society for General Microbiology
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Bacterial Typing Techniques - methods; Bacteriology; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; DNA, Bacterial - genetics; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Microbiology; Minisatellite Repeats; Miscellaneous; Molecular Sequence Data; Open Reading Frames; Polymorphism, Genetic; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Yersinia - classification; Yersinia - genetics; Yersinia enterocolitica; Yersinia enterocolitica - classification; Yersinia enterocolitica - genetics; Yersinia enterocolitica - isolation & purification; Yersinia enterocolitica; Bacteria; Chromosome; Typing; Tandemly repeated sequence; Enterobacteriaceae
• ISSN: 1350-0872; 1465-2080
• DOI: 10.1099/mic.0.26642-0

1 Servicio de Microbiología, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, Avenida de Valdecilla s/n, 39008-Santander, Spain 2 Departamento de Biología Molecular, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Cantabria, Centro Asociado al CIB, CSIC, Cardenal Herrera Oria s/n, 39011, Santander, Spain Correspondence Juan M. García Lobo jmglobo{at}unican.es The hexanucleotide CCAGCA was found repeated 15 times in tandem on the 5' side of the virginiamycin acetyl transferase gene of Yersinia enterocolitica strain Y56. The corresponding region was analysed by PCR from 54 clinical strains belonging to the same biotype and serotype, and others from this laboratory collection belonging to different biotypes and serotypes. Each strain produced a single amplification product whose size was variable among strains, revealing that the locus was polymorphic. Nucleotide sequence determination of selected PCR products showed that the polymorphism was due to the precise expansion or reduction in the number of hexanucleotide repeats. Analysis of this locus in a few strains showing the same PFGE pattern showed that it was also polymorphic. These results suggest that this method could be valuable to increase the discriminatory power of current Y. enterocolitica typing schemes. Abbreviations: PA, proline-alanine; VNTR, variable number tandem repeats