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Characterization of Streptococcus pneumoniae ophthalmic, systemic & commensal isolates by pulsed-field gel

Upendra K Kar1, Gita Satpathy, B K Das

  • 1Department of Ocular Microbiology, Dr RP Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.

The Indian Journal of Medical Research
|April 12, 2008
PubMed
Abstract

Insights

Genetic analysis reveals significant similarity between Streptococcus pneumoniae from eye, systemic, and nasopharyngeal sources. Pulse field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and ribotyping show shared strains across infection sites and normal flora.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Genetics
  • Ophthalmology

Background:

  • Streptococcus pneumoniae is a common cause of ocular and systemic infections.
  • It is also a part of normal nasopharyngeal flora.
  • Limited genetic data exists for S. pneumoniae causing eye infections.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To perform pulse field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and ribotyping on S. pneumoniae isolates.
  • To analyze isolates from ocular infections, systemic infections, and nasopharyngeal flora.
  • To investigate genetic relatedness between S. pneumoniae from different sources.

Main Methods:

  • Characterized 61 S. pneumoniae isolates (38 ocular, 9 systemic, 14 commensal).
  • Utilized PFGE of whole genome after SmaI digestion and conventional ribotyping with E. coli rRNA operon probe.
  • Constructed phylogenetic tree using unweighted pair group method analysis (UPGMA).

Main Results:

  • Ocular isolates (15 serotypes) showed 11 PFGE types and 15 ribotypes.
  • Systemic isolates (7 serotypes) yielded 7 PFGE types and 6 ribotypes.
  • Commensal isolates (11 serotypes) comprised 5 PFGE types and 6 ribotypes; many PFGE/ribotypes included isolates from multiple sites.

Conclusions:

  • Demonstrated considerable genetic similarity between S. pneumoniae from ocular, systemic, and nasopharyngeal sources.
  • PFGE effectively differentiated isolates based on infection site.
  • Observed significant DNA polymorphism within the bacterial population studied.

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