Variation in the presence of neuraminidase genes among Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates with identical sequence types.

ABSTRACT: Streptococcus pneumoniae frequently colonizes the upper respiratory tract of young children and is an important cause of otitis media and invasive disease. Carriage is more common than disease, yet the genetic factors that predispose a given clone for disease are not known. The relationship between capsule type, genetic background, and virulence is complex, and important questions remain regarding how pneumococcal clones differ in their ability to cause disease. Pneumococcal neuraminidase cleaves sialic acid-containing substrates and is thought to be important for pneumococcal virulence. We describe the distribution of multilocus sequence types (ST), capsule type, and neuraminidase genes among 342 carriage, middle ear, blood, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pneumococcal strains from young ch

SUBMITTER: Pettigrew MM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1479257 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature