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Journal of Bacteriology, August 2004, p. 4994-5002, Vol. 186, No. 15
0021-9193/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.186.15.4994-5002.2004

Intraspecific Phylogeny and Lineage Group Identification Based on the prfA Virulence Gene Cluster of Listeria monocytogenes

Microbial Genomics and Bioprocessing Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Peoria, Illinois 61604,¹ Produce Safety and Microbiology Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Albany, California 94710,² Animal Disease Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Pullman, Washington 99164,³ Microbial Outbreaks and Special Projects Laboratory, Food Safety and Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Athens, Georgia 30605⁴

Received 15 December 2003/ Accepted 23 April 2004

Listeria monocytogenes is a serious food-borne pathogen that can cause invasive disease in humans and other animals and has been the leading cause of food recalls due to microbiological concerns in recent years. In order to test hypotheses regarding L. monocytogenes lineage composition, evolution, ecology, and taxonomy, a robust intraspecific phylogeny was developed based on prfA virulence gene cluster sequences from 113 L. monocytogenes isolates. The results of the multigene phylogenetic analyses confirm that L. monocytogenes comprises at least three evolutionary lineages, demonstrate that lineages most frequently (lineage 1) and least frequently (lineage 3) associated with human listeriosis are sister-groups, and reveal for the first time that the human epidemic associated serotype 4b is prevalent among strains from lineage 1 and lineage 3. In addition, a PCR-based test for lineage identification was developed and used in a survey of food products demonstrating that the low frequency of association between lineage 3 isolates and human listeriosis cases likely reflects rarity of exposure and not reduced virulence for humans as has been previously suggested. However, prevalence data do suggest lineage 3 isolates may be better adapted to the animal production environment than the food-processing environment. Finally, analyses of haplotype diversity indicate that lineage 1 has experienced a purge of genetic variation that was not observed in the other lineages, suggesting that the three L. monocytogenes lineages may represent distinct species within the framework of the cohesion species concept.

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