Repetitive DNA motifs with potential variable-number tandem repeats (VNTR) were identified in the genome of Neisseria meningitidis and used to develop a typing method. A total of 146 meningococcal isolates recovered from carriers and patients were studied. These included 82 of the 107 N. meningitidis isolates previously used in the development of multilocus sequence typing (MLST), 45 isolates r...

VNTRs regions have been successfully used for bacterial subtyping; however, the hypervariability in VNTR loci is problematic when trying to predict the relationships among isolates. Since few studies have examined the mutation rate of these markers, our aim was to estimate mutation rates of VNTRs specific for verotoxigenic E. coli O157:H7. The knowledge of VNTR mutational rates and the factors ...

A 3-year environmental and clinical Vibrio vulnificus survey using simple-sequence repeats typing shows that V. vulnificus biotype 3 constitutes approximately 21% of the bacterium population in tested aquaculture ponds as opposed to approximately 86% of clinical cases. Simple-sequence repeats proved to be a useful epidemiologic tool, providing information on the environmental source of the path...

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is the most common Salmonella serovar causing human infections in Australia and many other countries. A total of 12,112 S. Typhimurium isolates from New South Wales were analyzed by multi-locus variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) analysis (MLVA) using five VNTRs from 2007 to 2014. We found that mid ranges of repeat units of 8-14 in VNTR locus STTR5, 6...

Weanling Sprague-Dawley rats were fed on a choline-deficient diet with hydrogenated vegetable oil and corn oil as lipids develop acute renal failure. Pathogenesis of the latter is controversial and an ischemic mechanism has been proposed. Arachidonic acid derivatives are involved in the regulation of vascular tonus. Vasospasm could be due to an increase in tromboxane A2-mediated vasoconstrictio...

Citrus greening (huanglongbing) is the most destructive citrus disease worldwide. The disease is associated with three species of 'Candidatus Liberibacter' among which 'Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus' has the widest distribution. 'Ca. L. asiaticus' is commonly transmitted by a phloem-feeding insect vector, the Asian citrus psyllid Diaphorina citri. A previous study showed that isolates of 'Ca. L. a...

The genomic sequences of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica strains CT18, Ty2 (serovar Typhi), and LT2 (serovar Typhimurium) were analyzed for potential variable number tandem repeats (VNTRs). A multiple-locus VNTR analysis (MLVA) of 99 strains of S. enterica supsp. enterica based on 10 VNTRs distinguished 52 genotypes and placed them into four groups. All strains tested were independent human...

Genotyping based on variable-number tandem repeats (VNTR) is currently a very promising tool for studying the molecular epidemiology and phylogeny of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Here we investigate the polymorphisms of 48 loci of direct or tandem repeats in M. tuberculosis previously identified by our group. Thirty-nine loci, including nine novel ones, were polymorphic. Ten VNTR loci had high a...

Variable-number tandem repeats (VNTRs) have been identified in populations of Pasteuria ramosa, a castrating endobacterium of Daphnia species. The allelic polymorphisms at 14 loci in laboratory and geographically diverse soil samples showed that VNTRs may serve as biomarkers for the genetic characterization of P. ramosa isolates.