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Journal of Bacteriology, April 2001, p. 2570-2575, Vol. 183, No. 8
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.8.2570-2575.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Genetic Isolation of Meningococci of the Electrophoretic Type 37 Complex

H. Claus, J. Stoevesandt, M. Frosch, and U. Vogel*

Institute for Hygiene and Microbiology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

Received 20 September 2000/Accepted 26 January 2001

Neisseria meningitidis (the meningococcus) is a naturally competent bacterial species in which intra- and interspecific horizontal gene transfer is a major source of genetic diversity. In strains of the electrophoretic type 37 (ET-37) complex and of the A4 cluster, we identified genomic DNA coding for a novel restriction-modification system and for the tail of a previously unidentified prophage. Furthermore, a novel 7.2-kb DNA segment restricted to clones of the ET-37 complex and the A4 cluster was isolated and shown to occur both as a plasmid (pJS-B) and as a chromosomal integration. Neither the genomic loci nor pJS-B was present in ET-5 complex, lineage 3, or serogroup A meningococci. The differential distribution of the DNA segments described herein, as well as of opcA, porB, nmeAI, nmeBI, and nmeDI described previously, supports the concept of genetic isolation of hypervirulent lineages responsible for most cases of serogroup C disease worldwide.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institut für Hygiene und Mikrobiologie, Universität Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Str. 2, 97080 Würzburg, Germany. Phone: 49(931)201 3802. Fax: 49(931)201 3445. E-mail: uvogel{at}hygiene.uni-wuerzburg.de.

Journal of Bacteriology, April 2001, p. 2570-2575, Vol. 183, No. 8
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.8.2570-2575.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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