Genotyping of the capsule gene cluster (cps) in nontypeable group B streptococci reveals two major cps allelic variants of serotypes III and VII.

ABSTRACT: Forty group B Streptococcus (GBS) isolates obtained from Europe and the United States previously reported to be nontypeable (NT) by capsule serotype determination were subjected to buoyant density gradient centrifugation. From nearly half of the isolates capsule-expressing variants could be selected. For characterization of the remaining NT-GBS isolates, the capsule operon (cps) was amplified by the long-fragment PCR technique and compared by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. The patterns from serotype reference isolates (n = 32) were first determined and used as a comparison matrix for the NT-GBS isolates. Using two restriction enzymes, SduI and AvaII, cluster analysis revealed a high degree of similarity within serotypes but less than 88% similarity between seroty

SUBMITTER: Sellin M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC87398 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature