Bacterial strains are currently grouped into species based on overall genomic similarity and sharing of phenotypes deemed ecologically important. Many believe this polyphasic taxonomy is in need of revision because it lacks grounding in evolutionary theory, and boundaries between species are arbitrary. Recent taxonomy efforts using multilocus sequence typing (MLST) data are based on the identif...

A 7-loci (3,036 nt) multilocus sequence typing scheme was applied to 41 clinical isolates of Cronobacter sakazakii. Half (20/41) of the C. sakazakii strains were sequence type (ST) 4, and 9/12 meningitis isolates were ST4. C. sakazakii ST4 appears to be a highly stable clone with a high propensity for neonatal meningitis.

Background: Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is one of the most important serovars of Salmonella enterica and is associated with human salmonellosis worldwide. Many epidemiological studies have focused on the characteristics of Salmonella Typhimurium in many countries as well as in Asia. This study was conducted to investigate the genetic characteristics of Salmonella Typhimurium using m...

This study reveals the presence of different carbapenemase genes (blaKPC, blaNDM, blaGES, and blaOXA48-like genes) detected directly from water samples and clonal dispersion (by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis [PFGE] and multilocus sequence typing [MLST]) of KPC-2-producing Enterobacteriaceae in two important urban aquatic matrixes from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, highlighting the role of aquatic ...

Seventy-one percent of 76 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains isolated from two medical centers in El Paso, Texas, represent three similar pulsed-field gel electrophoresis types. Overall, six pulsed-field types were identified represented by multilocus sequence/staphylococcal chromosomal cassette DNA mec (SCCmec) types: ST5-MRSA-II; ST36-MRSA-II; ST8 (untypeable SCCmec); ...

Wild populations of Atlantic salmon have declined worldwide. While the causes for this decline may be complex and numerous, increased mortality at sea is predicted to be one of the major contributing factors. Examining the potential changes occurring in the genome-wide composition of populations during this migration has the potential to tease apart some of the factors influencing marine mortal...

The existence of bacterial clones was evident in early phenotypic studies that recognised high levels of similarity in geographically and temporally separated isolates. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) has become the most common method for genetically characterizing clones of several bacterial pathogens, allowing the tracking of hypervirulent/antibiotic-resistant lineages. MLST has also been u...

The large Surinamese migrant population in the Netherlands is a major risk group for urogenital Chlamydia trachomatis infection. Suriname, a former Dutch colony, also has a high prevalence of C. trachomatis. Surinamese migrants travel extensively between the Netherlands and Suriname. Our objective was to assess whether the Surinamese migrants in the Netherlands form a bridge population facilita...

Six multiresistant, NDM-1-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae strains were recovered from an outbreak that affected six neonatal patients in a Colombian hospital. Molecular analysis showed that all of the isolates harbored the blaNDM-1, qnrA, and intI1 genes and were clonally related. Multilocus sequence typing showed that the isolates belonged to a new sequence type (ST1043) that was different fro...