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Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, September 2008, p. 1420-1424, Vol. 15, No. 9
1071-412X/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/CVI.00112-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Distinctive Features of Surface-Anchored Proteins of Streptococcus agalactiae Strains from Zimbabwe Revealed by PCR and Dot Blotting{triangledown}

Rooyen T. Mavenyengwa,1 Johan A. Maeland,2* and Sylvester R. Moyo3

Department of Medical Microbiology, College of Health Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe,1 Department of Laboratory Medicine, Children's and Women's Health, St. Olavs Hospital, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway,2 Department of Life and Consumer Sciences, School of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa3

Received 28 March 2008/ Returned for modification 29 May 2008/ Accepted 18 July 2008

The distribution of capsular polysaccharide (CPS) types and subtypes (serovariants) among 121 group B streptococcus (GBS) strains from Zimbabwe was examined. PCR was used for the detection of both CPS types and the surface-anchored and strain-variable proteins C{alpha}, Cβ, Alp1, Alp2, Alp3, R4/Rib, and Alp4. The R3 protein was detected by an antibody-based method using monoclonal anti-R3 antibody in dot blotting. The CPS types detected, Ia (15.7% of strains), Ib (11.6%), II (8.3%), III (38.8%), V (24.0%), and nontypeable (1.7%), were essentially as expected on the basis of data from Western countries. The type V strains showed distinctive features with respect to protein markers in that Alp3 was detected in only 6.9% of the isolates while R3 occurred in 75.9% and R4/Rib occurred in 37.9% of the isolates. R3 occurred nearly always in combination with one of the alpha-like (Alp) proteins, and it was the third most common of the proteins studied. These results show that type V GBS strains from Zimbabwe differed from type V strains from other geographical areas and also emphasize the importance of the R3 protein in GBS serotyping and its potential importance in the immunobiology of GBS, including a potential role in a future GBS vaccine.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratory of Medical Microbiology, St. Olavs Hospital, University Hospital, N-7006 Trondheim, Norway. Phone: 00 47 72 55 71 79. Fax: 00 47 72 57 64 17. E-mail: johan.meland{at}ntnu.no

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 30 July 2008.

Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, September 2008, p. 1420-1424, Vol. 15, No. 9
1071-412X/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/CVI.00112-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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