Abstract
Streptococcus pyogenes appears to be almost exclusively restricted to humans, with few reports on isolation from animals. We provide a detailed characterization (emm typing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis [PFGE], and multilocus sequence typing [MLST]) of 15 S. pyogenes isolates from animals associated with different clinical backgrounds. We also investigated erythromycin resistance mechanisms and phenotypes and virulence genes. We observed 2 emm types: emm12 (11 isolates) and emm77 (4 isolates). Similarly, we observed 2 genetic linages, sequence type (ST) 26 and ST63. Most isolates exhibited the M macrolide resistance phenotype and the mefA/ermB genotype. Isolates were grouped into 2 clones on the basis of emm-MLST-PFGE-virulence gene profile combinations: clone 1, characterized by the combined genotype emm12-ST36-pulsotype A-speG; and clone 2, characterized by the genotype emm77-ST63-pulsotype B-speC. Our results do not show conclusively that animals may represent a new reservoir of S. pyogenes but indicate the ability of human-derived S. pyogenes isolates to colonize and infect animals.
Keywords:
Spain; Streptococcus pyogenes; animals; antimicrobial resistance; bacteria; characterization; detection; erythromycin; genes; group A Streptococcus; streptococci; virulence.
MeSH terms
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Animals
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Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology
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Antigens, Bacterial / genetics
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Antigens, Bacterial / metabolism
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Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / genetics
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Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / metabolism
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Bacterial Proteins / genetics
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Bacterial Proteins / metabolism
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Carrier Proteins / genetics
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Carrier Proteins / metabolism
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Clone Cells
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Drug Resistance, Bacterial / genetics*
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Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field
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Farms
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Gene Expression
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Genotype*
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Macrolides / pharmacology
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Membrane Proteins / genetics
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Membrane Proteins / metabolism
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Microbial Sensitivity Tests
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Multilocus Sequence Typing
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Phenotype
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Rabbits
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Sheep / microbiology
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Sheep Diseases / drug therapy
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Sheep Diseases / epidemiology*
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Sheep Diseases / microbiology
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Sheep Diseases / transmission
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Spain
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Streptococcal Infections / drug therapy
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Streptococcal Infections / epidemiology*
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Streptococcal Infections / transmission
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Streptococcal Infections / veterinary*
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Streptococcus pyogenes / classification
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Streptococcus pyogenes / drug effects
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Streptococcus pyogenes / genetics*
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Streptococcus pyogenes / isolation & purification
Substances
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Anti-Bacterial Agents
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Antigens, Bacterial
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Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins
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Bacterial Proteins
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Carrier Proteins
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Macrolides
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MefA protein, Streptococcus
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Membrane Proteins
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ermB protein, Streptococcus pyogenes
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streptococcal M protein