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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, October 1999, p. 3308-3315, Vol. 37, No. 10
0095-1137/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Prophage Carriage as a Molecular Epidemiological Marker in Streptococcus pneumoniae

Elena Severina,1,dagger Mario Ramirez,1,2 and Alexander Tomasz1,*

The Rockefeller University, New York, New York,1 and ITQB/UNL, Oeiras, Portugal2

Received 26 May 1999/Returned for modification 2 July 1999/Accepted 16 July 1999

The great majority of clinical isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae carry prophages that may be identified through their hybridization with a DNA probe specific for the pneumococcal lytA gene (M. Ramirez, E. Severina, and A. Tomasz, J. Bacteriol. 181:3618-3625, 1999). We now show that the lytA hybridization pattern of chromosomal SmaI digests is stable for a given strain during extensive serial culturing in the laboratory; the pattern is specific for the strain's clonal type, as defined by pulsed-field gel electrophoretis (PFGE) pattern, and variations in PFGE subtypes may be explained by changes in the number and chromosomal localization of this prophage(s). These observations indicate that the lytA hybridization pattern may be used as a molecular epidemiological marker that offers additional resolution of the genetic background of S. pneumoniae strains.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Ave., New York, NY 10021. Phone: (212) 327-8277. Fax: (212) 327-8688. E-mail: tomasz{at}rockvax.rockefeller.edu.

dagger Permanent address: Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Moscow Region, 142292 Russia.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, October 1999, p. 3308-3315, Vol. 37, No. 10
0095-1137/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

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