Affiliation:
1. Institute for Hygiene and Microbiology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Neisseria meningitidis
(the meningococcus) is a naturally competent bacterial species in which intra- and interspecific horizontal gene transfer is a major source of genetic diversity. In strains of the electrophoretic type 37 (ET-37) complex and of the A4 cluster, we identified genomic DNA coding for a novel restriction-modification system and for the tail of a previously unidentified prophage. Furthermore, a novel 7.2-kb DNA segment restricted to clones of the ET-37 complex and the A4 cluster was isolated and shown to occur both as a plasmid (pJS-B) and as a chromosomal integration. Neither the genomic loci nor pJS-B was present in ET-5 complex, lineage 3, or serogroup A meningococci. The differential distribution of the DNA segments described herein, as well as of
opcA, porB, nmeAI, nmeBI
, and
nmeDI
described previously, supports the concept of genetic isolation of hypervirulent lineages responsible for most cases of serogroup C disease worldwide.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Molecular Biology,Microbiology
Cited by
30 articles.
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