Identification of genes and genomic islands correlated with high pathogenicity in Streptococcus suis using whole genome tiling microarrays.

ABSTRACT: Streptococcus suis is an important zoonotic pathogen that can cause meningitis and sepsis in both pigs and humans. Infections in humans have been sporadic worldwide but two severe outbreaks occurred in China in recent years, while infections in pigs are a major problem in the swine industry. Some S. suis strains are more pathogenic than others with 2 sequence types (ST), ST1 and ST7, being well recognized as highly pathogenic. We analyzed 31 isolates from 23 serotypes and 25 STs by NimbleGen tiling microarray using the genome of a high pathogenicity (HP) ST1 strain, GZ1, as reference and a new algorithm to detect gene content difference. The number of genes absent in a strain ranged from 49 to 225 with a total of 632 genes absent in at least one strain, while 1346 genes were found to be in

SUBMITTER: Zheng X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3068143 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature