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Prevalence of a Streptococcal Inhibitor of a Complement-Mediated Cell lysis-like Gene (sicG) in Streptococcus Dysgalactiae subsp. Equisimilis

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Abstract

Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis isolates (n = 110) were analyzed by PCR to determine whether the gene encoding SICG, a homolog of Streptococcus pyogenes SIC, was present. Nineteen strains (17%) had this gene of which 11 (55%) were isolated from patients with invasive disease. All 19 strains possessed group G carbohydrate. Molecular characterization of emm type revealed that the majority of emm sequences were stG643 and stG2078. Only the N-terminal sequence of SICG was similar to that of SIC in S. pyogenes. Although we found no significant relationship between pathogenic severity and sicG possession, further investigation into the mechanism of SICG may elucidate the virulence in S. dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis infection.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr Ichiro Tatsuno for excellent technical advice and Dr Toru Akiyama for providing GGS124 data. We also thank Hiroshima City Hospital, Ichinomiya City Hospital, Kariya Toyota General Hospital, Nagoya University Hospital, Nagoya City Hospital, Nagoya First Red Cross Hospital, Nagoya Second Red Cross Hospital, Nihon University Hospital, Toki General Hospital, Tokyo Medical University Hospital, Tokyo Metropolitan Research Laboratory of Public Health, Toyota Memorial Hospital, Fukuoka University Hospital, Fujita Health University Hospital, Asahi General Hospital, and Ryukyu University Hospital for providing us with information relating to patients with clinical isolates of S. dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis. This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Research from the Nagoya City University, Japan, and by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (12557027 and 14370090) from the Ministry of Education.

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All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bacteriology, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, 1 Kawasumi, Mizuho-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, 467-8601, Japan

    Masaaki Minami, Mariko Ichikawa, Hideyuki Matsui & Tadao Hasegawa

  2. Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, 1 Kawasumi, Mizuho-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, 467-8601, Japan

    Nanako Hata & Naoki Wakiyama

  3. Department of Bacteriology, Aichi Prefectural Institute of Public Health, 7-6 Nagare, Tsuji-machi, Kita-ku, Nagoya, 462-8576, Japan

    Masakado Matsumoto

  4. Department of Bacteriology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan

    Michio Ohta

Authors
  1. Masaaki Minami
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  2. Mariko Ichikawa
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  3. Hideyuki Matsui
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  4. Nanako Hata
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  5. Naoki Wakiyama
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  6. Masakado Matsumoto
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  7. Michio Ohta
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  8. Tadao Hasegawa
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Correspondence to Tadao Hasegawa.

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Minami, M., Ichikawa, M., Matsui, H. et al. Prevalence of a Streptococcal Inhibitor of a Complement-Mediated Cell lysis-like Gene (sicG) in Streptococcus Dysgalactiae subsp. Equisimilis. Curr Microbiol 62, 884–887 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-010-9798-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-010-9798-8

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