TY - JOUR
T1 - Genetic characterization of clones of the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes causing epidemic disease
AU - Piffaretti, J. C.
AU - Kressebuch, H.
AU - Aeschbacher, M.
AU - Bille, J.
AU - Bannerman, E.
AU - Musser, J. M.
AU - Selander, R. K.
AU - Rocourt, J.
PY - 1989
Y1 - 1989
N2 - One hundred and seventy-five isolates of the pathogenic bacterium Listeria monocytogenes recovered from human clinical (blood and cerebrospinal fluid), animal, and environmental sources in Europe, North America, and elsewhere were analyzed electrophoretically for allelic variation at 16 genetic loci encoding metabolic enzymes. Forty-five distinctive allele profiles (electrophoretic types, ETs) were distinguished, among which mean genetic diversity per locus (H) was 0.424. Cluster analysis of a matrix of genetic distances between paired ETs revealed two primary phylogenetic divisions of the species separated at a distance of 0.54. ETs in division I were presented by strains of serotypes 4b, 1/2b, and 4a, whereas strains of ETs in division II were of serotypes 1/2a and 1/2c. Human and animal isolates did not represent distinctive subsets of ETs. The occurrence of linkage disequilibrium between enzyme loci and the widespread distribution of certain ETs indicate that the genetic structure of L. monocytogenes is clonal. One clone, marked by ET 1, caused major epidemics of human disease in western Switzerland in the period 1983-1987 and in Los Angeles County, California, in 1985, both of which were attributed to contamination of soft cheese. ET 1 is closely related to the clone (ET 7) that caused two large outbreaks of listeriosis in Massachusetts in 1979 and 1983.
AB - One hundred and seventy-five isolates of the pathogenic bacterium Listeria monocytogenes recovered from human clinical (blood and cerebrospinal fluid), animal, and environmental sources in Europe, North America, and elsewhere were analyzed electrophoretically for allelic variation at 16 genetic loci encoding metabolic enzymes. Forty-five distinctive allele profiles (electrophoretic types, ETs) were distinguished, among which mean genetic diversity per locus (H) was 0.424. Cluster analysis of a matrix of genetic distances between paired ETs revealed two primary phylogenetic divisions of the species separated at a distance of 0.54. ETs in division I were presented by strains of serotypes 4b, 1/2b, and 4a, whereas strains of ETs in division II were of serotypes 1/2a and 1/2c. Human and animal isolates did not represent distinctive subsets of ETs. The occurrence of linkage disequilibrium between enzyme loci and the widespread distribution of certain ETs indicate that the genetic structure of L. monocytogenes is clonal. One clone, marked by ET 1, caused major epidemics of human disease in western Switzerland in the period 1983-1987 and in Los Angeles County, California, in 1985, both of which were attributed to contamination of soft cheese. ET 1 is closely related to the clone (ET 7) that caused two large outbreaks of listeriosis in Massachusetts in 1979 and 1983.
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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.86.10.3818
DO - 10.1073/pnas.86.10.3818
M3 - Article
C2 - 2498876
AN - SCOPUS:0001080878
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 86
SP - 3818
EP - 3822
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 10
ER -