MONITORING FOR NEISSERIA MENINGITIDIS SPECIES USING SEQUENCING OF VARIABLE FRAGMENTS OF SURFACE PROTEINS FetA AND PorA GENES

Aim. To perform advanced antigenic characterization of meningococci belonging to serogroups A and B and circulating in Moscow according to modern nomenclature of Neisseria meningitidis strains. Materials and methods. Method of typing of «VR» fragment of FetA protein together with methods of genetic subtyping and multilocus sequence typing was used. Results. Detailed information about studied strains was inputed in Internet database - http://pubmlst.org/neisseria/. Typing of serogroup B strains did not allow to define dominating variant of «VR» fragment of FetA protein which is in accordance with subtyping data obtained previously. Serogroup A strains were notable for less variability of «VR» fragment variants: 6 variants were detected. For the majority of serogroup A strains, it was possible to trace connection between belonging of the strain to particular genetic subgroup and its revealed antigenic profile. For strains from genetic subgroup VI, antigenic profile P1.5-2, 10; F1-5 detected in 14 (18%) strains was typical, whereas antigenic profile P1.5-2, 10; F3-5 was typical for genetic subgroup X and was detected in 50 (63%) strains. Antigenic profile P1.5-2, 10-67; F3-5 was detected in 5 (6%) strains, and other 10 antigenic profiles were revealed in one strain each. Conclusion. Prevalence of strains with antigenic profile P1.5-2, 10; F3-5 is explained by change of predominant genetic subgroup from subgroup VI to subgroup X in Moscow population serogroup A meningococci observed after 2003.

Neisseria meningitidis, multilocus sequence typing, subtyping, FetA protein, Moscow