Abstract
Neisseria meningitidis is a major cause of bacterial meningitis and septicemia worldwide. In China, serogroup A strains were responsible for over 95% of the cases, while serogroup C strains were only recovered from a few sporadic cases. However, a sudden increase in the number of cases due to serogroup C strains occurred during 2003–2005 in Anhui Province, China. Many cases were found in other provinces at the same time. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) results indicated that the unique sequence type 4821 clone meningococci, a new hyper-virulent lineage, was responsible for the serogroup C meningitis outbreaks. We have completed the project of sequencing the whole genome of the Chinese N. meningitidis serogroup C representative isolate 053442. We fabricated a whole-genome microarray of N. meningitidis isolate 053442 and analyzed the genome composition differences among 81 serogroup C isolates which were isolated from 14 provinces of China during 1966–2005. The comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) result shows that the genome compositions of nearly all serogroup C isolates are similar to that of 053442. The products of many absent open reading frames (ORFs) are conserved hypothetical proteins. The results will provide a valuable resource from which one can analyze the genome composition and genetic background of serogroup C meningococci in China.
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Supported by the National High Technology Research and development Program from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant No. 2005BA711A09)
Recommended by Prof. HONG Tao, member of the editorial board of Science in China
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Peng, J., Zhang, X., Yang, E. et al. Characterization of serogroup C meningococci isolated from 14 provinces of China during 1966–2005 using comparative genomic hybridization. SCI CHINA SER C 50, 1–6 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-007-0016-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-007-0016-2