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Clinical strains of Streptococcus agalactiae carry two different variants of pathogenicity island XII

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Abstract

Streptococcus agalactiae or Group B streptococci (GBS) are a common cause of serious diseases of newborns and adults. GBS pathogenicity largely depends on genes located on the accessory genome including several pathogenicity islands (PAI). The present paper is focused on the structure and molecular epidemiological analysis of one of the GBS pathogenicity islands—the pathogenicity island PAI XII (Glaser et al. Mol Microbiol 45(6):1499–1513, 2002). This PAI was found to be composed of three different mobile genetic elements: a composite transposon (PAI-C), a genomic islet (PAI-B), and a pathogenicity island associated with gene sspB1 (PAI-A). PAI-A in GBS has a homolog——PAI-A1 with similar, but a different genetic constellation. PCR-based analysis of GBS collections from different countries revealed that a strains lineage with PAI-A is less common than PAI-A1 and was determined to be present only among the strains obtained from Russia. Our results suggest that PAI-A and PAI-A1 have the same progenitor, which evolved independently and appeared in the GBS genome as separate genetic events. Results of this study reflect specific geographical distribution of the GBS strains with the mobile genetic element under study.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the following projects: (i) State contract of Russian Federation 14N08.12.0003; (ii) NANO_GUARD, fullerene-based systems for oxidative inactivation of airborne microbial pathogens (Project No: 269138. FP7-MC-IRSES); and (iii) UCIBIO (UID/Multi/04378/2013 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007728) and Project PTDC/CVT-EPI/6685/2014, funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal. Natesan Balasubramanian was supported by research grant ref. SFRH/BPT/91219/2012 from Fundacão para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Experimental Medicine, Pavlova Street, 12, 197376, Saint-Petersburg, Russia

    Eugenia Kuleshevich, Kornelia Grabovskaya, Valentin Shevchenko, Anton Rysev & Alexander Suvorov

  2. University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, 1100 N Lindsay Ave, Oklahoma City, OK, 73104, USA

    Joseph Ferretti

  3. Research Unit on Applied Molecular Biosciences (UCIBIO@REQUIMTE). Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal

    Ilda Santos Sanches & Natesan Balasubramanian

  4. Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, 89081, Ulm, Germany

    Barbara Spellerberg

  5. Health Protection Agency, 61 Colindale Avenue NW9 5EQ, London, UK

    Androulla Efstratiou

  6. WHO Center Reference and Research on Streptococci, Srobarova, 48 10042 10, Prague, Czech Republic

    Paula Kriz

  7. D. O. Ott Research Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 199034, Mendeleevskaya line, 3, Saint-Petersburg, Russia

    Olga Arjanova & Alevtina Savitcheva

  8. Saint-Petersburg State University, 199034, Universitetskaya emb. 7/9, Saint-Petersburg, Russia

    Alexander Suvorov

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  1. Eugenia Kuleshevich
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  2. Joseph Ferretti
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  3. Ilda Santos Sanches
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  4. Natesan Balasubramanian
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  6. Androulla Efstratiou
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  7. Paula Kriz
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  8. Kornelia Grabovskaya
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  9. Olga Arjanova
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  10. Alevtina Savitcheva
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  11. Valentin Shevchenko
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  12. Anton Rysev
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  13. Alexander Suvorov
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexander Suvorov.

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Kuleshevich, E., Ferretti, J., Santos Sanches, I. et al. Clinical strains of Streptococcus agalactiae carry two different variants of pathogenicity island XII. Folia Microbiol 62, 393–399 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12223-017-0509-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12223-017-0509-8

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