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- Title
Sequence diversity within the argF, fbp and recA genes of natural isolates of Neisseria meningitidis: interspecies recombination within the argF gene.
- Authors
Jiaji Zhou; Spratt, Brian G.
- Abstract
Studies of natural populations of <em>Neisseria meningitidis</em> using multilocus enzyme electrophoresis have shown extensive genetic variation within this species, which, it has been proposed, implies a level of sequence diversity within meningococci that is greater than that normally considered as the criterion for species limits in bacteria. To obtain a direct measure of the sequence diversity among meningococci, we obtained the nucleotide sequences of most of the <em>argF, recA</em> and <em>fbp</em> genes of eight meningococci of widely differing electrophoretic type (from the reference collection of Caugant). Sequence variation between the meningococcal strains ranged from 0-0.6% for <em>fbp</em>, 0-1.3% for <em>argF</em>, and 0-3.3% for <em>recA</em>. These levels of diversity are no greater than those found within <em>Escherichia coli</em> 'housekeeping' genes and suggest that multilocus enzyme electrophoresis may overestimate the extent of nucleotide sequence diversity within meningococci. The average sequence divergence between the <em>Neisseria meningitidis</em> strains and <em>N. gonorrhoeae</em> strain FA19 was 1.0% for <em>fbp</em> and 1.6% for <em>recA</em>. The <em>argF</em> gene, although very uniform among the eight meningococcal isolates, had a striking mosaic structure when compared with the gonococcal <em>argF</em>gene: two regions of the gene differed by >13% in nucleotide sequence between meningococci and gonococci, whereas the rest of the gene differed by <1.7%. One of the diverged regions was shown to have been introduced from the <em>argF</em> gene of a commensal <em>Neisseria</em> species that is closely related to <em>Neisseria cinerea</em>. The source of the other region was unclear.
- Publication
Molecular Microbiology, 1992, Vol 6, Issue 15, p2135
- ISSN
0950-382X
- Publication type
Academic Journal
- DOI
10.1111/j.1365-2958.1992.tb01387.x