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Presence of nonhemolytic pneumolysin in serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae associated with disease outbreaks.

Authors :
Jefferies JM
Johnston CH
Kirkham LA
Cowan GJ
Ross KS
Smith A
Clarke SC
Brueggemann AB
George RC
Pichon B
Pluschke G
Pfluger V
Mitchell TJ
Source :
The Journal of infectious diseases [J Infect Dis] 2007 Sep 15; Vol. 196 (6), pp. 936-44. Date of Electronic Publication: 2007 Aug 06.
Publication Year :
2007

Abstract

Pneumolysin is an important virulence factor of the human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae. Sequence analysis of the ply gene from 121 clinical isolates of S. pneumoniae uncovered a number of alleles. Twenty-two strains were chosen for further analysis, and 14 protein alleles were discovered. Five of these had been reported previously, and the remaining 9 were novel. Cell lysates were used to determine the specific hemolytic activities of the pneumolysin proteins. Six strains showed no hemolytic activity, and the remaining 16 were hemolytic, to varying degrees. We report that the nonhemolytic allele reported previously in serotype 1, sequence type (ST) 306 isolates is also present in a number of pneumococcal isolates of serotype 8 that belong to the ST53 lineage. Serotype 1 and 8 pneumococci are known to be associated with outbreaks of invasive disease. The nonhemolytic pneumolysin allele is therefore associated with the dominant clones of outbreak-associated serotypes of S. pneumoniae.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
0022-1899
Volume :
196
Issue :
6
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
The Journal of infectious diseases
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
17703426
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1086/520091