Distinguishing highly-related outbreak-associated Clostridium botulinum type A(B) strains.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In the United States, most Clostridium botulinum type A strains isolated during laboratory investigations of human botulism demonstrate the presence of an expressed type A botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT/A) gene and an unexpressed BoNT/B gene. These strains are designated type A(B). The most common pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) pattern in the C. botulinum PulseNet database is composed of A(B) strains. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of genome sequencing and multi-loci variable number of tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) to differentiate such strains.

Results

The genome sequences of type A(B) strains evaluated in this study are closely related and cluster together compared to other available C. botulinum Group I genomes. In silico multilocus

SUBMITTER: Raphael BH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4112988 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature