Fimbrial ghf gene cluster of genital strains of Haemophilus spp.

We analyzed the LKP fimbrial gene clusters of six piliated strains of a cryptic genospecies of Haemophilus isolated from the genital tracts of adult patients (five strains) and from an infected neonate. In a group of 19 genital strains, LKP-like genes have been found in only these 6 strains. In addition to the ghfA, ghfD, and ghfE genes previously described, we characterized two genes, designated ghfB and ghfC, encoding the putative chaperone and assembly platform proteins.

Capnocytophaga ochracea: characterization of a plasmid-encoded extended-spectrum TEM-17 beta-lactamase in the phylum Flavobacter-bacteroides.

A plasmid-encoded extended-spectrum TEM beta-lactamase with a pI of 5.5 was detected in a Capnocytophaga ochracea clinical isolate. The bla gene was associated with a strong TEM-2 promoter and was derived from bla(TEM-1a) with a single-amino-acid substitution: Glu(104)-->Lys, previously assigned to TEM-17, which is thus the first TEM beta-lactamase to be reported in the phylum Flavobacter-Bacteroides.

Nucleotide sequences of genes coding for fimbrial proteins in a cryptic genospecies of Haemophilus spp. isolated from neonatal and genital tract infections.

Nineteen isolates belonging to a cryptic genospecies of Haemophilus (referred to here as genital strains) isolated from genital tract infections (6 strains) and from neonatal infections (13 strains) were studied for fimbrial genes. Sixteen strains exhibit peritrichous fimbriae observed by electron microscopy. By PCR with primers corresponding to the extreme ends of the Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) hifA and hifD genes and Southern blotting, a hifA-like gene (named ghfA) and a hifD-like gene (named ghfD) were identified in 6 of the 19 strains.