Biogeography of Paenibacillus larvae, the causative agent of American foulbrood, using a new multilocus sequence typing scheme.

ABSTRACT: American foulbrood is the most destructive brood disease of honeybees (Apis mellifera) globally. The absence of a repeatable, universal typing scheme for the causative bacterium Paenibacillus larvae has restricted our understanding of disease epidemiology. We have created the first multilocus sequence typing scheme (MLST) for P. larvae, which largely confirms the previous enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC)-polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based typing scheme's divisions while providing added resolution and improved repeatability. We have used the new scheme to determine the distribution and biogeography of 294 samples of P. larvae from across six continents. We found that of the two most epidemiologically important ERIC types, ERIC I was more diverse than ERIC II. Analys

SUBMITTER: Morrissey BJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4405054 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature