This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Pettigrew, M. M.
Right arrow Articles by Ghaffar, F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Pettigrew, M. M.
Right arrow Articles by Ghaffar, F.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infection and Immunity, June 2006, p. 3360-3365, Vol. 74, No. 6
0019-9567/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.01442-05
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Variation in the Presence of Neuraminidase Genes among Streptococcus pneumoniae Isolates with Identical Sequence Types

Melinda M. Pettigrew,1* Kristopher P. Fennie,2 Matthew P. York,1 Janeen Daniels,1,{dagger} and Faryal Ghaffar3

Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut,1 Yale University School of Nursing, New Haven, Connecticut,2 University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas3

Received 2 September 2005/ Returned for modification 27 October 2005/ Accepted 15 March 2006

Streptococcus pneumoniae frequently colonizes the upper respiratory tract of young children and is an important cause of otitis media and invasive disease. Carriage is more common than disease, yet the genetic factors that predispose a given clone for disease are not known. The relationship between capsule type, genetic background, and virulence is complex, and important questions remain regarding how pneumococcal clones differ in their ability to cause disease. Pneumococcal neuraminidase cleaves sialic acid-containing substrates and is thought to be important for pneumococcal virulence. We describe the distribution of multilocus sequence types (ST), capsule type, and neuraminidase genes among 342 carriage, middle ear, blood, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pneumococcal strains from young children. We found 149 STs among our S. pneumoniae isolates. nanA was present in all strains, while nanB and nanC were present in 96% and 51% of isolates, respectively. The distribution of nanC varied among the strain collections from different tissue sources (P = 0.03). The prevalence of nanC was 1.41 (95% confidence interval, 1.11, 1.79) times higher among CSF isolates than among carriage isolates. We identified isolates of the same ST that differed in the presence of nanB and nanC. These studies demonstrate that virulence determinants, other than capsule loci, vary among strains of identical ST. Our studies suggest that the presence of nanC may be important for tissue-specific virulence. Studies that both incorporate MLST and take into account additional virulence determinants will provide a greater understanding of the pneumococcal virulence potential.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, 60 College Street, P.O. Box 208034, New Haven, CT 06520-8034. Phone: (203) 785-5220. Fax: (203) 785-6130. E-mail: melinda.pettigrew{at}yale.edu.

Editor: J. N. Weiser

{dagger} Present address: Spelman College, Atlanta, Ga.

Infection and Immunity, June 2006, p. 3360-3365, Vol. 74, No. 6
0019-9567/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.01442-05
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Parker, D., Soong, G., Planet, P., Brower, J., Ratner, A. J., Prince, A. (2009). The NanA Neuraminidase of Streptococcus pneumoniae Is Involved in Biofilm Formation. Infect. Immun. 77: 3722-3730 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Uchiyama, S., Carlin, A. F., Khosravi, A., Weiman, S., Banerjee, A., Quach, D., Hightower, G., Mitchell, T. J., Doran, K. S., Nizet, V. (2009). The surface-anchored NanA protein promotes pneumococcal brain endothelial cell invasion. JEM 206: 1845-1852 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Burnaugh, A. M., Frantz, L. J., King, S. J. (2008). Growth of Streptococcus pneumoniae on Human Glycoconjugates Is Dependent upon the Sequential Activity of Bacterial Exoglycosidases. J. Bacteriol. 190: 221-230 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ratzow, S., Gaia, V., Helbig, J. H., Fry, N. K., Luck, P. C. (2007). Addition of neuA, the Gene Encoding N-Acylneuraminate Cytidylyl Transferase, Increases the Discriminatory Ability of the Consensus Sequence-Based Scheme for Typing Legionella pneumophila Serogroup 1 Strains. J. Clin. Microbiol. 45: 1965-1968 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»