Dynamics of CRISPR loci in microevolutionary process of Yersinia pestis strains

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 9; no. 9; p. e108353
• Main Authors: Barros, Maria Paloma S, França, Camila T, Lins, Rosanny Holanda F B, Santos, Milena Danda V, Silva, Ednaldo J, Oliveira, Maria Betânia M, Silveira-Filho, Vladimir M, Rezende, Antônio M, Balbino, Valdir Q, Leal-Balbino, Tereza Cristina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 29.09.2014; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: 5' Untranslated Regions - genetics; Automation; Bacillus anthracis; Bacteria; Base Sequence; Biology and Life Sciences; Brazil; Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats - genetics; CRISPR; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA, Bacterial - analysis; DNA, Bacterial - genetics; DNA, Intergenic - genetics; Evolution, Molecular; Genes, Bacterial; Genetic Variation; Genome, Bacterial; Genomes; Genotype; Genotypes; Genotyping; Loci; Methods; Molecular Sequence Data; Pathogens; Phylogeny; Plague; Plague - microbiology; Plasmids; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Spacer; Strains (organisms); Yersinia pestis; Yersinia pestis - classification; Yersinia pestis - genetics; Yersinia pseudotuberculosis - genetics; Brazil
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0108353

The potential use of CRISPR loci genotyping to elucidate population dynamics and microevolution of 146 Yersinia pestis strains from different biovars and locations was investigated in this work. The majority of strains from the Orientalis biovar presented specific spacer arrays, allowing for the establishment of a CRISPR signature for their respective isolates. Twenty-one new spacers were found in the Y. pestis strains from plague foci in Brazil. Ninety-three (64%) strains were grouped in the G1 genotype, whereas the others were distributed in 35 genotypes. This study allowed observing a microevolutionary process in a group of Y. pestis isolated from Brazil. We also identified specific genotypes of Y. pestis that were important for the establishment of the bacteria in plague foci in Brazil. The data have provided supporting evidence for the diversity and dynamics of CRISPR loci present in the genome of Y. pestis strains from plague foci in Brazil.