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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, April 2000, p. 1516-1519, Vol. 38, No. 4
Department of Biological Sciences, Northern
Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona
86011-56401; U.S. Army Medical Research
Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort Detrick, Frederick, Maryland
21702-50112; and Environmental Molecular
Biology Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico
875453
Received 23 August 1999/Returned for modification 5 November
1999/Accepted 7 January 2000
We have identified a tetranucleotide repeat sequence,
(CAAA)N, in the genome of Yersinia pestis, the
causative agent of plague. This variable-number tandem repeat (VNTR)
region has nine alleles and great diversity (calculated as 1 minus the
sum of the squared allele frequencies) (diversity value, 0.82) within a
set of 35 diverse Y. pestis strains. In contrast, the
nucleotide sequence of the lcrV (low-calcium-response) gene
differed only slightly among these strains, having a haplotype
diversity value of 0.17. Replicated cultures, phenotypic variants of
particular strains, and extensively cultured replicates within strains
did not differ in VNTR allele type. Thus, while a high mutation rate
must contribute to the great diversity of this locus, alleles appear
stable under routine laboratory culture conditions. The classic three
plague biovars did not have single identifying alleles, although there were allelic biases within biovar categories. The antiqua biovar was
the most diverse, with four alleles observed in 5 strains, while the
orientalis and mediaevalis biovars exhibited five alleles in 21 strains
and three alleles in 8 strains, respectively. The CAAA VNTR is located
immediately adjacent to the transcriptional promoters for flanking open
reading frames and may affect their activity. This VNTR marker may
provide a high-resolution tool for epidemiological analyses of plague.
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Diversity in a Variable-Number Tandem Repeat from
Yersinia pestis
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, P.O. Box 5640, Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5640. Phone: (520) 523-1078. Fax: (520) 523-7500. E-mail: Paul.Keim{at}nau.edu.
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