King AJ, van Gorkom T, Pennings JL, van der Heide HG, He Q, Diavatopoulos D, Heuvelman K, van Gent M, van Leeuwen K, Mooi FR
Comparative genomic profiling of Dutch clinical Bordetella pertussis isolates using DNA microarrays: identification of genes absent from epidemic strains. [JOURNAL ARTICLE]
BMC Genomics 2008 Jun 30; 9(1):311.
ABSTRACT: Whooping cough caused by Bordetella pertussis in humans, is re-emerging in many countries despite vaccination. Several studies have shown that significant shifts have occurred in the B. pertussis population resulting in antigenic divergence between vaccine strains and circulating strains and suggesting pathogen adaptation. In the Netherlands, the resurgence of pertussis is associated with the rise of B. pertussis strains with an altered promoter region for pertussis toxin (ptxP3). We used Multi-Locus Sequence Typing (MLST), Multiple-Locus Variable Number of Tandem Repeat Analysis (MLVA) and microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) to characterize the ptxP3 strains associated with the Dutch epidemic. For CGH analysis, we developed an oligonucleotide (70-mers) microarray representing 94% of the gene repertoire of the B. pertussis strain Tohama I. The presented MLST, MLVA and CGH-analysis identified distinctive characteristics of ptxP3 B. pertussis strains the most prominent of which was a genomic deletion removing about 23,000 bp. We propose a model for the emergence of ptxP3 strains.
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