Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Emerging Infectious Diseases logoLink to Emerging Infectious Diseases
. 1999 Mar-Apr;5(2):254–263. doi: 10.3201/eid0502.990210

Rapid molecular genetic subtyping of serotype M1 group A Streptococcus strains.

N Hoe 1, K Nakashima 1, D Grigsby 1, X Pan 1, S J Dou 1, S Naidich 1, M Garcia 1, E Kahn 1, D Bergmire-Sweat 1, J M Musser 1
PMCID: PMC2640708  PMID: 10221878

Abstract

Serotype M1 group A Streptococcus, the most common cause of invasive disease in many case series, generally have resisted extensive molecular subtyping by standard techniques (e.g., multilocus enzyme electrophoresis, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis). We used automated sequencing of the sic gene encoding streptococcal inhibitor of complement and of a region of the chromosome with direct repeat sequences to unambiguously differentiate 30 M1 isolates recovered from 28 patients in Texas with invasive disease episodes temporally clustered and thought to represent an outbreak. Sequencing of the emm gene was less useful for M1 strain differentiation, and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis with IS1548 or IS1562 as Southern hybridization probes did not provide epidemiologically useful subtyping information. Sequence polymorphism in the direct repeat region of the chromosome and IS1548 profiling data support the hypothesis that M1 organisms have two main evolutionary lineages marked by the presence or absence of the speA2 allele encoding streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin A2.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (258.0 KB).

Selected References

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

  1. Akesson P., Sjöholm A. G., Björck L. Protein SIC, a novel extracellular protein of Streptococcus pyogenes interfering with complement function. J Biol Chem. 1996 Jan 12;271(2):1081–1088. doi: 10.1074/jbc.271.2.1081. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Alland D., Kalkut G. E., Moss A. R., McAdam R. A., Hahn J. A., Bosworth W., Drucker E., Bloom B. R. Transmission of tuberculosis in New York City. An analysis by DNA fingerprinting and conventional epidemiologic methods. N Engl J Med. 1994 Jun 16;330(24):1710–1716. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199406163302403. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Davies H. D., McGeer A., Schwartz B., Green K., Cann D., Simor A. E., Low D. E. Invasive group A streptococcal infections in Ontario, Canada. Ontario Group A Streptococcal Study Group. N Engl J Med. 1996 Aug 22;335(8):547–554. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199608223350803. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Granlund M., Oberg L., Sellin M., Norgren M. Identification of a novel insertion element, IS1548, in group B streptococci, predominantly in strains causing endocarditis. J Infect Dis. 1998 Apr;177(4):967–976. doi: 10.1086/515233. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Groenen P. M., Bunschoten A. E., van Soolingen D., van Embden J. D. Nature of DNA polymorphism in the direct repeat cluster of Mycobacterium tuberculosis; application for strain differentiation by a novel typing method. Mol Microbiol. 1993 Dec;10(5):1057–1065. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1993.tb00976.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Harbaugh M. P., Podbielski A., Hügl S., Cleary P. P. Nucleotide substitutions and small-scale insertion produce size and antigenic variation in group A streptococcal M1 protein. Mol Microbiol. 1993 May;8(5):981–991. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1993.tb01642.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hughes M. K., Hughes A. L. Natural selection on Plasmodium surface proteins. Mol Biochem Parasitol. 1995 Apr;71(1):99–113. doi: 10.1016/0166-6851(95)00037-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Johnson L. P., Schlievert P. M. Group A streptococcal phage T12 carries the structural gene for pyrogenic exotoxin type A. Mol Gen Genet. 1984;194(1-2):52–56. doi: 10.1007/BF00383496. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kamerbeek J., Schouls L., Kolk A., van Agterveld M., van Soolingen D., Kuijper S., Bunschoten A., Molhuizen H., Shaw R., Goyal M. Simultaneous detection and strain differentiation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis for diagnosis and epidemiology. J Clin Microbiol. 1997 Apr;35(4):907–914. doi: 10.1128/jcm.35.4.907-914.1997. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. LaPenta D., Rubens C., Chi E., Cleary P. P. Group A streptococci efficiently invade human respiratory epithelial cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1994 Dec 6;91(25):12115–12119. doi: 10.1073/pnas.91.25.12115. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Martin D. R., Single L. A. Molecular epidemiology of group A streptococcus M type 1 infections. J Infect Dis. 1993 May;167(5):1112–1117. doi: 10.1093/infdis/167.5.1112. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Mejia L. M., Stockbauer K. E., Pan X., Cravioto A., Musser J. M. Characterization of group A Streptococcus strains recovered from Mexican children with pharyngitis by automated DNA sequencing of virulence-related genes: unexpectedly large variation in the gene (sic) encoding a complement-inhibiting protein. J Clin Microbiol. 1997 Dec;35(12):3220–3224. doi: 10.1128/jcm.35.12.3220-3224.1997. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Muotiala A., Seppälä H., Huovinen P., Vuopio-Varkila J. Molecular comparison of group A streptococci of T1M1 serotype from invasive and noninvasive infections in Finland. J Infect Dis. 1997 Feb;175(2):392–399. doi: 10.1093/infdis/175.2.392. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Musser J. M., Gray B. M., Schlievert P. M., Pichichero M. E. Streptococcus pyogenes pharyngitis: characterization of strains by multilocus enzyme genotype, M and T protein serotype, and pyrogenic exotoxin gene probing. J Clin Microbiol. 1992 Mar;30(3):600–603. doi: 10.1128/jcm.30.3.600-603.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Musser J. M., Hauser A. R., Kim M. H., Schlievert P. M., Nelson K., Selander R. K. Streptococcus pyogenes causing toxic-shock-like syndrome and other invasive diseases: clonal diversity and pyrogenic exotoxin expression. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1991 Apr 1;88(7):2668–2672. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.7.2668. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Musser J. M., Kapur V., Kanjilal S., Shah U., Musher D. M., Barg N. L., Johnston K. H., Schlievert P. M., Henrichsen J., Gerlach D. Geographic and temporal distribution and molecular characterization of two highly pathogenic clones of Streptococcus pyogenes expressing allelic variants of pyrogenic exotoxin A (Scarlet fever toxin). J Infect Dis. 1993 Feb;167(2):337–346. doi: 10.1093/infdis/167.2.337. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Musser J. M., Kapur V., Peters J. E., Hendrix C. W., Drehner D., Gackstetter G. D., Skalka D. R., Fort P. L., Maffei J. T., Li L. L. Real-time molecular epidemiologic analysis of an outbreak of Streptococcus pyogenes invasive disease in US Air Force trainees. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 1994 Feb;118(2):128–133. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Musser J. M., Kapur V., Szeto J., Pan X., Swanson D. S., Martin D. R. Genetic diversity and relationships among Streptococcus pyogenes strains expressing serotype M1 protein: recent intercontinental spread of a subclone causing episodes of invasive disease. Infect Immun. 1995 Mar;63(3):994–1003. doi: 10.1128/iai.63.3.994-1003.1995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Norgren M., Norrby A., Holm S. E. Genetic diversity in T1M1 group A streptococci in relation to clinical outcome of infection. J Infect Dis. 1992 Nov;166(5):1014–1020. doi: 10.1093/infdis/166.5.1014. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Sreevatsan S., Pan X., Stockbauer K. E., Connell N. D., Kreiswirth B. N., Whittam T. S., Musser J. M. Restricted structural gene polymorphism in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex indicates evolutionarily recent global dissemination. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1997 Sep 2;94(18):9869–9874. doi: 10.1073/pnas.94.18.9869. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Stanley J., Jones C. S., Threlfall E. J. Evolutionary lines among Salmonella enteritidis phage types are identified by insertion sequence IS200 distribution. FEMS Microbiol Lett. 1991 Jul 15;66(1):83–89. doi: 10.1016/0378-1097(91)90425-a. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Stockbauer K. E., Grigsby D., Pan X., Fu Y. X., Mejia L. M., Cravioto A., Musser J. M. Hypervariability generated by natural selection in an extracellular complement-inhibiting protein of serotype M1 strains of group A Streptococcus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1998 Mar 17;95(6):3128–3133. doi: 10.1073/pnas.95.6.3128. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Whatmore A. M., Kapur V., Sullivan D. J., Musser J. M., Kehoe M. A. Non-congruent relationships between variation in emm gene sequences and the population genetic structure of group A streptococci. Mol Microbiol. 1994 Nov;14(4):619–631. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1994.tb01301.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Yeh R. W., Ponce de Leon A., Agasino C. B., Hahn J. A., Daley C. L., Hopewell P. C., Small P. M. Stability of Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA genotypes. J Infect Dis. 1998 Apr;177(4):1107–1111. doi: 10.1086/517406. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Zurawski C. A., Bardsley M., Beall B., Elliott J. A., Facklam R., Schwartz B., Farley M. M. Invasive group A streptococcal disease in metropolitan Atlanta: a population-based assessment. Clin Infect Dis. 1998 Jul;27(1):150–157. doi: 10.1086/514632. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Emerging Infectious Diseases are provided here courtesy of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

RESOURCES