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Journal of Bacteriology, March 2009, p. 1480-1489, Vol. 191, No. 5
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01343-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Role of Conjugative Elements in the Evolution of the Multidrug-Resistant Pandemic Clone Streptococcus pneumoniae^Spain23F ST81 ^,

Nicholas J. Croucher,^1* Danielle Walker,¹ Patricia Romero,² Nicola Lennard,¹ Gavin K. Paterson,² Nathalie C. Bason,¹ Andrea M. Mitchell,² Michael A. Quail,¹ Peter W. Andrew,³ Julian Parkhill,¹ Stephen D. Bentley,¹ and Tim J. Mitchell²

The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB10 1SA, United Kingdom,¹ Division of Infection and Immunity, Glasgow Biomedical Research Centre, University of Glasgow, 120 University Place, Glasgow G12 8TA, United Kingdom,² Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, Medical Sciences Building, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 9HN, United Kingdom³

Received 26 September 2008/ Accepted 16 December 2008

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a human commensal and pathogen able to cause a variety of diseases that annually result in over a million deaths worldwide. The S. pneumoniae^Spain23F sequence type 81 lineage was among the first recognized pandemic clones and was responsible for almost 40% of penicillin-resistant pneumococcal infections in the United States in the late 1990s. Analysis of the chromosome sequence of a representative strain, and comparison with other available genomes, indicates roles for integrative and conjugative elements in the evolution of pneumococci and, more particularly, the emergence of the multidrug-resistant Spain 23F ST81 lineage. A number of recently acquired loci within the chromosome appear to encode proteins involved in the production of, or immunity to, antimicrobial compounds, which may contribute to the proficiency of this strain at nasopharyngeal colonization. However, further sequencing of other pandemic clones will be required to establish whether there are any general attributes shared by these strains that are responsible for their international success.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Sulston Laboratories, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB10 1SA, United Kingdom. Phone: 44 1223 834244. Fax: 44 1223 494919. E-mail: nc3{at}sanger.ac.uk

Published ahead of print on 29 December 2008.

Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jb.asm.org/.

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Journal of Bacteriology, March 2009, p. 1480-1489, Vol. 191, No. 5
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01343-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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