We have previously described the development of a onetube SYBR Green real-time RT-PCR assay for the detection and quantitation of infectious salmon anemia virus (ISAV) in various biological samples. The twofold aim of the present study was to verify that the optimized SYBR Green real-time RT-PCR conditions could detect ISAV isolates of different geographic origins, and to analyze the growth pat...

Despite its importance as a human pathogen, information on population structure and global epidemiology of Staphylococcus epidermidis is scarce and the relative importance of the mechanisms contributing to clonal diversification is unknown. In this study, we addressed these issues by analyzing a representative collection of S. epidermidis isolates from diverse geographic and clinical origins us...

Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) is the essential infectious agent for PCV2-systemic disease (PCV2-SD, formerly known as postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome) and other pathological conditions. Recent studies indicated antigenic variability amongst different PCV2 isolates and suggested that single amino acid changes within the capsid protein determine differences in the level of neutraliz...

We investigated Fusarium graminearum complex (Fg complex) species diversity and toxin potential in European and Asian regions of the Russian Federation and adjoining regions northwest to Finland and south near Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China, to expand our knowledge of the host range and geographic distribution of these economically devastating cereal head blight pathogens. Results of a re...

The genetic analysis of oocysts recovered from the stools of humans and animals infected with Cryptosporidium parvum has consistently shown the existence of two distinct genotypes. One of the genotypes is found exclusively in some human infections, whereas the other genotype is found in human as well as in animal infections. On the basis of these observations and the results of published epidem...

Serotype 1 pneumococci are a major cause of serious disease and have been associated with outbreaks but are rarely carried. The high attack rate and lack of coverage of this serotype by the heptavalent conjugate vaccine prompted the characterization of a geographically diverse collection of 166 serotype 1 isolates from recent cases of invasive disease. The isolates were resolved by multilocus s...

There is a geographic distribution of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains with various rpoB gene mutations that account for rifampin resistance. We studied 17 rifampin-resistant clinical isolates from patients in Greece to identify rpoB mutations. The aim of our study was the evaluation of a commercially available line probe assay kit (INNO-LiPA Rif. TB) to detect rpoB mutations and rifampin res...

The possible existence of endemism among microorganisms resulting from and preserved by geographic isolation is one of the most controversial topics in microbial ecology. We isolated 31 strains of "Spumella-like" flagellates from remote sampling sites from all continents, including Antarctica. These and another 23 isolates from a former study were characterized morphologically and by small-subu...

Based on the discovery of three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in Mycobacterium leprae, it has been previously reported that there are four major SNP types associated with different geographic regions around the world. Another typing system for global differentiation of M. leprae is the analysis of the variable number of short tandem repeats within the rpoT gene. To expand the analy...

Canadian isolates of Leptosphaeria maculans, the causal agent of blackleg of crucifers, were examined for genetic relatedness by the random amplified polymorphic DNA assay. DNA polymorphisms amplified with random decamer primers were used to distinguish three groups of isolates. Group 1 contained all isolates of the virulent pathotype, group 2 contained isolates of the avirulent pathotype from ...