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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, October 2008, p. 3201-3207, Vol. 46, No. 10
0095-1137/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.02309-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Differentiation of Highly Virulent Strains of Streptococcus suis Serotype 2 According to Glutamate Dehydrogenase Electrophoretic and Sequence Type

Department of Bacteriology,¹ Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine,² Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, Microbiology Section, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706³

Received 30 November 2007/ Returned for modification 6 January 2008/ Accepted 24 July 2008

The glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) enzymes of 19 Streptococcus suis serotype 2 strains, consisting of 18 swine isolates and 1 human clinical isolate from a geographically varied collection, were analyzed by activity staining on a nondenaturing gel. All seven (100%) of the highly virulent strains tested produced an electrophoretic type (ET) distinct from those of moderately virulent and nonvirulent strains. By PCR and nucleotide sequence determination, the gdh genes of the 19 strains and of 2 highly virulent strains involved in recent Chinese outbreaks yielded a 1,820-bp fragment containing an open reading frame of 1,344 nucleotides, which encodes a protein of 448 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of approximately 49 kDa. The nucleotide sequences contained base pair differences, but most were silent. Cluster analysis of the deduced amino acid sequences separated the isolates into three groups. Group I (ETI) consisted of the seven highly virulent isolates and the two Chinese outbreak strains, containing Ala²⁹⁹-to-Ser, Glu³⁰⁵-to-Lys, and Glu³³⁰-to-Lys amino acid substitutions compared with groups II and III (ETII). Groups II and III consisted of moderately virulent and nonvirulent strains, which are separated from each other by Tyr⁷²-to-Asp and Thr²⁹⁶-to-Ala substitutions. Gene exchange studies resulted in the change of ETI to ETII and vice versa. A spectrophotometric activity assay for GDH did not show significant differences between the groups. These results suggest that the GDH ETs and sequence types may serve as useful markers in predicting the pathogenic behavior of strains of this serotype and that the molecular basis for the observed differences in the ETs was amino acid substitutions and not deletion, insertion, or processing uniqueness.

Published ahead of print on 6 August 2008.