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Infection and Immunity, June 2002, p. 3227-3233, Vol. 70, No. 6
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.6.3227-3233.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Dissemination of the Phage-Associated Novel Superantigen Gene speL in Recent Invasive and Noninvasive Streptococcus pyogenes M3/T3 Isolates in Japan

Tadayoshi Ikebe,1 Akihito Wada,1* Yoshishige Inagaki,1,{dagger} Kumiko Sugama,2 Rieko Suzuki,3 Daisuke Tanaka,4 Aki Tamaru,5 Yoshihiro Fujinaga,6 Yoshiaki Abe,7 Yoshikata Shimizu,8 Haruo Watanabe,1 and the Working Group for Group A Streptococci in Japan{ddagger}

Department of Bacteriology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo,1 Department of Bacteriology, Fukushima Prefectural Institute of Public Health, Fukushima,2 Department of Bacteriology and Pathology, Kanagawa Prefectural Public Health Laboratory, Yokohama,3 Department of Bacteriology, Toyama Institute of Health, Toyama,4 Department of Microbiology, Osaka Prefectural Institute of Public Health, Osaka,5 Division of Biological Medicine, Yamaguchi Prefectural Research Institute of Public Health, Yamaguchi,6 Department of Bacteriology, The Oita Prefectural Institute of Health and Environment, Oita,7 Department of Anaesthesia, Asahi General Hospital, Asahi, Japan8

Received 26 December 2001/ Returned for modification 18 February 2002/ Accepted 21 March 2002

In Japan, more than 10% of streptococcal toxic shock-like syndrome (TSLS) cases have been caused by Streptococcus pyogenes M3/T3 isolates since the first reported TSLS case in 1992. Most M3/T3 isolates from TSLS or severe invasive infection cases during 1992 to 2001 and those from noninvasive cases during this period are indistinguishable in pulsed-field gel electropherograms. The longest fragments of these recent isolates were 300 kb in size, whereas those of isolates recovered during or before 1973 were 260 kb in size. These 260- and 300-kb fragments hybridized to each other, suggesting the acquisition of an about 40-kb fragment by the recent isolates. The whole part of the acquired fragment was cloned from the first Japanese TSLS isolate, NIH1, and its nucleotide sequence was determined. The 41,796-bp fragment is temperate phage {phi}NIH1.1, containing a new superantigen gene speL near its right attachment site. The C-terminal part of the deduced amino acid sequence of speL has 48 and 46% similarity with well-characterized erythrogenic toxin SpeC and the most potent superantigen, SmeZ-2, respectively. None of 10 T3 isolates recovered during or before 1973 has speL, whereas all of 18 M3/T3 isolates recovered during or after 1992 and, surprisingly, Streptococcus equi subsp. equi ATCC 9527 do have this gene. Though plaques could not be obtained from {phi}NIH1.1, its DNA became detectable from the phage particle fraction upon mitomycin C induction, showing that this phage is not defective. A horizontal transfer of the phage carrying speL may explain the observed change in M3/T3 S. pyogenes isolates in Japan.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Bacteriology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Toyama 1-23-1, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan. Phone: 81-3-5285-1111. Fax: 81-3-5285-1163. E-mail: awada{at}nih.go.jp.

Editor: E. I. Tuomanen

{dagger} Present address: Laboratory of Plant Pathology and Genetic Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Okayama University, Tsushima-naka 1-1-1, Okayama 700-8530, Japan.

{ddagger} The members of this group are Shoko Murayama, Shirou Yamai, Yotaku Gyobu, Chihiro Katsukawa, Atsushi Katayama, and Kikuo Hoashi.

Infection and Immunity, June 2002, p. 3227-3233, Vol. 70, No. 6
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.6.3227-3233.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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