Survey of the bp/tee genes from clinical Group A Streptococcus isolates in New Zealand - implications for vaccine development.

[acute rheumatic fever]

Group A Streptococcus (GAS ) is responsible for a wide range of diseases ranging from superficial infections , such as pharyngitis and impetigo to life-threatening diseases like toxic shock syndrome and acute rheumatic fever (ARF ). GAS pili are hair -like extensions protruding from the cell surface and consist of highly immunogenic structural proteins ; the backbone pilin (BP ) and one or two accessory pilins (AP 1 and AP 2 ). The protease-resistant BP builds the pilus shaft and has been recognised as the T -antigen , which forms the basis of a major serological typing scheme that is often used as a supplement to M-typing . A previous sequence analysis of the bp gene (tee gene ) in 39 GAS isolates revealed 15 different bp /tee types . In this study , we sequenced the bp /tee gene from 101 GAS isolates obtained from patients with pharyngitis , ARF or invasive disease in New Zealand . We found 20 new bp /tee alleles and 4 new bp /tee types /subtypes . No association between bp /tee type and clinical outcome was observed . We confirmed earlier reports that emm-type and tee-type are strongly associated , but we also found exceptions , where multiple tee-type can be found in certain M /emm type strains , such as M /emm 89 . We also report , for the first time , the existence of a chimeric bp /tee allele , which was assigned into a new subclade (bp /tee 5 .1 ). A strong sequence conservation of the bp /tee gene was observed within the individual bp /tee types /subtypes (>97 % sequence identity ), as well as between historical and contemporary New Zealand , and international GAS strains . This temporal and geographical sequence stability provides further evidence for the potential use of the BP /T -antigen as a vaccine target .

Diseases
Validation

Diseases presenting "wide range" symptom

22q11.2 deletion syndrome

acute rheumatic fever

adrenomyeloneuropathy

alexander disease

allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis

alpha-thalassemia

aromatase deficiency

benign recurrent intrahepatic cholestasis

cadasil

carcinoma of the gallbladder

congenital toxoplasmosis

cowden syndrome

cystinuria

dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa

epidermolysis bullosa simplex

erdheim-chester disease

fabry disease

gm1 gangliosidosis

harlequin ichthyosis

homocystinuria without methylmalonic aciduria

hydrocephalus with stenosis of the aqueduct of sylvius

legionellosis

neonatal adrenoleukodystrophy

oral submucous fibrosis

pendred syndrome

phenylketonuria

pleomorphic liposarcoma

primary effusion lymphoma

primary hyperoxaluria type 1

proteus syndrome

pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency

scrub typhus

systemic capillary leak syndrome

thoracic outlet syndrome

triple a syndrome

trochlear dysplasia

well-differentiated liposarcoma

werner syndrome

x-linked adrenoleukodystrophy

zellweger syndrome

You can validate or delete this automatically detected symptom