Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Clinical Microbiology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Microbiology
. 1996 Nov;34(11):2741–2747. doi: 10.1128/jcm.34.11.2741-2747.1996

Genetic diversity of rRNA operons of unrelated Streptococcus agalactiae strains isolated from cerebrospinal fluid of neonates suffering from meningitis.

S Chatellier 1, H Huet 1, S Kenzi 1, A Rosenau 1, P Geslin 1, R Quentin 1
PMCID: PMC229397  PMID: 8897176

Abstract

The genetic diversity of a collection of 54 unrelated Streptococcus agalactiae strains isolated from the cerebrospinal fluid of neonates and of 60 unrelated carrier strains was evaluated by investigating the restriction fragment length polymorphism of the rRNA gene region. Three restriction enzymes were selected for use: PstI, HindIII, and CfoI. Clustering analysis revealed two phylogenetic groups of strains with 40% divergence. Group I contained two clusters, A and B, and group II contained three clusters, C, D, and E. Strains of serotype Ia were mostly distributed in cluster A, and strains of serotype Ib were mostly distributed in cluster E. Serotype III isolates did not cluster. Nevertheless, 37 of 39 isolates belonging to cluster B were serotype III. With HindIII, two rRNA gene banding patterns characterized 38 of the 39 strains of cluster B, which represents a high-virulence group. In addition, two rRNA gene banding patterns with each enzyme and/or a pair of CfoI fragments of 905 and 990 bp identified 81% of the invasive strains. On account of the genetic homogeneity of the cerebrospinal fluid strains, ribotyping is a powerful typing method for investigation of nosocomial or epidemic invasive infections only when all three enzymes are used or when PstI and HindIII or PstI and CfoI are combined with serotyping (index of discrimination, > 0.95).

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (266.7 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bangsborg J. M., Gerner-Smidt P., Colding H., Fiehn N. E., Bruun B., Høiby N. Restriction fragment length polymorphism of rRNA genes for molecular typing of members of the family Legionellaceae. J Clin Microbiol. 1995 Feb;33(2):402–406. doi: 10.1128/jcm.33.2.402-406.1995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bingen E., Denamur E., Lambert-Zechovsky N., Aujard Y., Brahimi N., Geslin P., Elion J. Analysis of DNA restriction fragment length polymorphism extends the evidence for breast milk transmission in Streptococcus agalactiae late-onset neonatal infection. J Infect Dis. 1992 Mar;165(3):569–573. doi: 10.1093/infdis/165.3.569. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Blanc D. S., Siegrist H. H., Sahli R., Francioli P. Ribotyping of Pseudomonas aeruginosa: discriminatory power and usefulness as a tool for epidemiological studies. J Clin Microbiol. 1993 Jan;31(1):71–77. doi: 10.1128/jcm.31.1.71-77.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Blumberg H. M., Stephens D. S., Licitra C., Pigott N., Facklam R., Swaminathan B., Wachsmuth I. K. Molecular epidemiology of group B streptococcal infections: use of restriction endonuclease analysis of chromosomal DNA and DNA restriction fragment length polymorphisms of ribosomal RNA genes (ribotyping). J Infect Dis. 1992 Sep;166(3):574–579. doi: 10.1093/infdis/166.3.574. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Brenner D. J., McWhorter A. C., Knutson J. K., Steigerwalt A. G. Escherichia vulneris: a new species of Enterobacteriaceae associated with human wounds. J Clin Microbiol. 1982 Jun;15(6):1133–1140. doi: 10.1128/jcm.15.6.1133-1140.1982. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Denning D. W., Baker C. J., Troup N. J., Tompkins L. S. Restriction endonuclease analysis of human and bovine group B streptococci for epidemiologic study. J Clin Microbiol. 1989 Jun;27(6):1352–1356. doi: 10.1128/jcm.27.6.1352-1356.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Ferrieri P. Surface-localized protein antigens of group B streptococci. Rev Infect Dis. 1988 Jul-Aug;10 (Suppl 2):S363–S366. doi: 10.1093/cid/10.supplement_2.s363. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Grattard F., Pozzetto B., Ros A., Gaudin O. G. Differentiation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains by ribotyping: high discriminatory power by using a single restriction endonuclease. J Med Microbiol. 1994 Apr;40(4):275–281. doi: 10.1099/00222615-40-4-275. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Grimont F., Grimont P. A. Ribosomal ribonucleic acid gene restriction patterns as potential taxonomic tools. Ann Inst Pasteur Microbiol. 1986 Sep-Oct;137B(2):165–175. doi: 10.1016/s0769-2609(86)80105-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hauge M., Jespersgaard C., Poulsen K., Kilian M. Population structure of Streptococcus agalactiae reveals an association between specific evolutionary lineages and putative virulence factors but not disease. Infect Immun. 1996 Mar;64(3):919–925. doi: 10.1128/iai.64.3.919-925.1996. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Helmig R., Uldbjerg N., Boris J., Kilian M. Clonal analysis of Streptococcus agalactiae isolated from infants with neonatal sepsis or meningitis and their mothers and from healthy pregnant women. J Infect Dis. 1993 Oct;168(4):904–909. doi: 10.1093/infdis/168.4.904. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Huet H., Martin C., Geslin P., Grimont F., Quentin R. Ribotyping of Streptococcus agalactiae strains isolated from vaginas of asymptomatic women. Res Microbiol. 1993 Jul-Aug;144(6):457–465. doi: 10.1016/0923-2508(93)90053-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Hunter P. R., Gaston M. A. Numerical index of the discriminatory ability of typing systems: an application of Simpson's index of diversity. J Clin Microbiol. 1988 Nov;26(11):2465–2466. doi: 10.1128/jcm.26.11.2465-2466.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Jelínková J., Motlová J. Worldwide distribution of two new serotypes of group B streptococci: type IV and provisional type V. J Clin Microbiol. 1985 Mar;21(3):361–362. doi: 10.1128/jcm.21.3.361-362.1985. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Jensen N. E. Production and evaluation of antisera for serological type determination of group-B streptococci by double diffusion in agarose gel. Acta Pathol Microbiol Scand B. 1979 Apr;87B(2):77–83. doi: 10.1111/j.1699-0463.1979.tb02407.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Lancefield R. C., McCarty M., Everly W. N. Multiple mouse-protective antibodies directed against group B streptococci. Special reference to antibodies effective against protein antigens. J Exp Med. 1975 Jul 1;142(1):165–179. doi: 10.1084/jem.142.1.165. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Martin C., Ichou M. A., Massicot P., Goudeau A., Quentin R. Genetic diversity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains isolated from patients with cystic fibrosis revealed by restriction fragment length polymorphism of the rRNA gene region. J Clin Microbiol. 1995 Jun;33(6):1461–1466. doi: 10.1128/jcm.33.6.1461-1466.1995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Maslow J. N., Mulligan M. E., Arbeit R. D. Molecular epidemiology: application of contemporary techniques to the typing of microorganisms. Clin Infect Dis. 1993 Aug;17(2):153–164. doi: 10.1093/clinids/17.2.153. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Motlová J., Wagner M., Jelínková J. A search for new group-B streptococcal serotypes. J Med Microbiol. 1986 Sep;22(2):101–105. doi: 10.1099/00222615-22-2-101. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Musser J. M., Mattingly S. J., Quentin R., Goudeau A., Selander R. K. Identification of a high-virulence clone of type III Streptococcus agalactiae (group B Streptococcus) causing invasive neonatal disease. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Jun;86(12):4731–4735. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.12.4731. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Noya F. J., Rench M. A., Metzger T. G., Colman G., Naidoo J., Baker C. J. Unusual occurrence of an epidemic of type Ib/c group B streptococcal sepsis in a neonatal intensive care unit. J Infect Dis. 1987 Jun;155(6):1135–1144. doi: 10.1093/infdis/155.6.1135. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. PATTISON I. H., MATTHEWS P. R., HOWELL D. G. The type classification of group-B streptococci, with special reference to bovine strains apparently lacking in type polysaccharide. J Pathol Bacteriol. 1955 Jan-Apr;69(1-2):51–60. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Perch B., Kjems E., Henrichsen New serotypes of group B streptococci isolated from human sources. J Clin Microbiol. 1979 Jul;10(1):109–110. doi: 10.1128/jcm.10.1.109-110.1979. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Picard-Pasquier N., Ouagued M., Picard B., Goullet P., Krishnamoorthy R. A simple, sensitive method of analyzing bacterial ribosomal DNA polymorphism. Electrophoresis. 1989 Mar;10(3):186–189. doi: 10.1002/elps.1150100306. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Quentin R., Huet H., Wang F. S., Geslin P., Goudeau A., Selander R. K. Characterization of Streptococcus agalactiae strains by multilocus enzyme genotype and serotype: identification of multiple virulent clone families that cause invasive neonatal disease. J Clin Microbiol. 1995 Oct;33(10):2576–2581. doi: 10.1128/jcm.33.10.2576-2581.1995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Quentin R., Martin C., Musser J. M., Pasquier-Picard N., Goudeau A. Genetic characterization of a cryptic genospecies of Haemophilus causing urogenital and neonatal infections. J Clin Microbiol. 1993 May;31(5):1111–1116. doi: 10.1128/jcm.31.5.1111-1116.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Severin W. P. Latex agglutination in the diagnosis of meningococcal meningitis. J Clin Pathol. 1972 Dec;25(12):1079–1082. doi: 10.1136/jcp.25.12.1079. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Microbiology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES