par Smeesters, Pierre
;Mardulyn, Patrick
;Vergison, Anne
;Leplae, Raphaël
;Van Melderen, Laurence 
Référence Vaccine, 26, 46, page (5835-5842)
Publication Publié, 2008-10





Référence Vaccine, 26, 46, page (5835-5842)
Publication Publié, 2008-10
Article révisé par les pairs
Résumé : | Group A Streptococci (GAS) are classified into 180 emm-types based on the sequence of the amino-terminal hyper-variable region of the M surface protein. The genetic relatedness of the whole surface-exposed part of M was investigated in well-characterized Belgian and Brazilian GAS isolates which belong to different epidemiological and clinical landscapes. Despite a small number of different emm-types and an apparent low diversity in the Belgian isolates (as revealed by the emm-typing method), our data showed that the overall genetic diversity of the M proteins was higher than expected. On the contrary, the M proteins from the Brazilian isolates were genetically highly related. Since M is a multi-functional protein, an analysis of the whole surface-exposed sequence that takes into account the different functional domains may provide tools for typing as well as for analyzing the molecular mechanisms of M virulence or defining vaccine strategies. |