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Journal of Bacteriology, April 2001, p. 2586-2594, Vol. 183, No. 8
Department of Medical Microbiology, St. Bartholomew's and
the Royal London School of Medicine and
Dentistry,1 Department of Infectious and
Tropical Diseases, The London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine,4 and Department of
Biochemistry, Imperial College of Science Technology and
Medicine,6 London, The Sanger Centre,
Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton,2 and
Defence Evaluation and Research Agency,
Salisbury,3 United Kingdom, and
Oxford-Wellcome Clinical Research Unit, Centre for Tropical
Diseases, Cho Quan Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam5
Received 6 November 2000/Accepted 29 January 2001
Population genetic studies suggest that Yersinia
pestis, the cause of plague, is a clonal pathogen that has
recently emerged from Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. Plasmid
acquisition is likely to have been a key element in this evolutionary
leap from an enteric to a flea-transmitted systemic pathogen. However,
the origin of Y. pestis-specific plasmids remains obscure.
We demonstrate specific plasmid rearrangements in different Y. pestis strains which distinguish Y. pestis bv.
Orientalis strains from other biovars. We also present evidence for
plasmid-associated DNA exchange between Y. pestis and the
exclusively human pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi.
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.8.2586-2594.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Yersinia pestis pFra Shows
Biovar-Specific Differences and Recent Common Ancestry with a
Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhi Plasmid
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Medical Microbiology, St. Bartholomew's and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London ECIA 7BE, United Kingdom. Phone: 44 207 601 8411. Fax: 44 207 601 8409. E-mail:
m.b.prentice{at}mds.qmw.ac.uk.
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