Characterization of Streptococcus tigurinus small-colony variants causing prosthetic joint infection by comparative whole-genome analyses.

ABSTRACT: Small-colony variants (SCVs) of bacteria are associated with recurrent and persistent infections. We describe for the first time SCVs of Streptococcus tigurinus in a patient with a prosthetic joint infection. S. tigurinus is a novel pathogen of the Streptococcus mitis group and causes invasive infections. We sought to characterize S. tigurinus SCVs using experimental methods and find possible genetic explanations for their phenotypes. The S. tigurinus SCVs were compared with the wild-type (WT) isolate using phenotypic methods, including growth under different conditions, autolysis, and visualization of the cell ultrastructure by use of transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Furthermore, comparative genome analyses were performed. The S. tigurinus SCVs displayed reduced growth compared to

SUBMITTER: Zbinden A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3911336 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature