Abstract
Group A Streptococci (GAS) are classified into 180 emm-types based on the sequence of the amino-terminal hyper-variable region of the M surface protein. The genetic relatedness of the whole surface-exposed part of M was investigated in well-characterized Belgian and Brazilian GAS isolates which belong to different epidemiological and clinical landscapes. Despite a small number of different emm-types and an apparent low diversity in the Belgian isolates (as revealed by the emm-typing method), our data showed that the overall genetic diversity of the M proteins was higher than expected. On the contrary, the M proteins from the Brazilian isolates were genetically highly related. Since M is a multi-functional protein, an analysis of the whole surface-exposed sequence that takes into account the different functional domains may provide tools for typing as well as for analyzing the molecular mechanisms of M virulence or defining vaccine strategies.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Antigens, Bacterial / genetics*
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Antigens, Bacterial / immunology*
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Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / genetics*
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Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / immunology*
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Belgium / epidemiology
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Brazil / epidemiology
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Carrier Proteins / genetics*
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Carrier Proteins / immunology*
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Genes, Bacterial / genetics
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Genes, Bacterial / immunology
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Genetic Variation
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Humans
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Molecular Epidemiology
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Phylogeny
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Plasminogen / metabolism
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Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid
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Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
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Streptococcal Infections / epidemiology
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Streptococcal Infections / immunology
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Streptococcal Infections / microbiology
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Streptococcal Vaccines / genetics*
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Streptococcal Vaccines / immunology*
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Streptococcus pyogenes / genetics*
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Streptococcus pyogenes / immunology*
Substances
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Antigens, Bacterial
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Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins
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Carrier Proteins
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Streptococcal Vaccines
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streptococcal M protein
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Plasminogen