Genotyping analysis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae clinical strains in Japan between 1995 and 2005: type shift phenomenon of M. pneumoniae clinical strains.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae clinical isolates obtained between 1995 and 2005 were examined to determine the prevalent genotype. One hundred and twenty-seven strains isolated from bronchitis and pneumonia patients were genotyped by a PCR-RFLP method based on nucleotide sequence polymorphisms of the p1 gene, which encodes the major adhesin protein. The typing results established that 66 of the isolates were group I strains, 45 were group II strains and 16 were group II variants.