The phylogeny of Ureaplasma urealyticum based on the mba gene fragment

Sequencing of mba gene fragments of reference strains of Ureaplasma urealyticum serovars 1, 3, 6, 14 and 8, in addition to 33 clinical U. urealyticum isolates is reported. A phylogenetic tree deduced from alignment of these sequences clearly demonstrates two major clusters (confidence limit 100%), which equate to the parvo and T960 biovars, and five types, which have been designated mba 1, 3, 6, 8 and X. These relationships are supported by bootstrap analysis. Polymorphisms within the mba fragment of types mba 1, 3 and 6 were used to define nine subtypes (mba 1a, 1b, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 3e, 6a and 6b), thus facilitating high resolution typing of U. urealyticum. Inclusion of reference strains for serovars 1, 3, 6 and 8 in the mba typing scheme showed that the results of this analysis are broadly consistent with currently accepted serotyping. In addition, a ure gene fragment from nine of the clinical isolates was amplified and sequenced. Comparisons of the sequences clearly distinguished the two biovars of U. urealyticum; however, this fragment was invariant within the parvo biovar. This study has shown that the mba sequence can reveal the fine details of the relationships between U. urealyticum isolates and also supports the significant evolutionary gap between the two biovars.