[C-terminal region of MyfA, the major subunit of Yersinia enterocolitica Myf fimbriae, is conserved among pathogenic strains].

In our study we analyzed the nucleotide sequence of the C- terminal 256 bp fragment of the myfA gene encoding MyfA protein, the major subunit of Yersinia enterocolitica Myf fimbriae. We examined ten representative strains of major Y. enterocolitica pathogenic bioserotypes belonging to European (4/O3; 2/O9; 3/O5,27) and American (1B/O8) phylogenetic lineages. DNA sequencing revealed that consensus nucleotide sequences of the tested myfA fragment were indistinguishable in all the tested strains. The resulting common consensus sequence found in our study was identical to the corresponding fragment of reference sequences Z21953 and NC008800 deposited in GenBank database for pathogenic Y. enterocolitica strains. In contrast, 18 point mutations leading to 13 amino acid substitutions were found when the common consensus sequence was aligned to sequence AY966879 determined for the myfA homologue detected by PCR in Y. enterocolitica 1A strain. The strong conservation of the nucleotide and amino acid sequence of myfA gene among virulent bioserotypes of Y. enterocolitica indicate that fimbriae MyF could play important role in pathogenesis, even before the divergence of European and American lineages.