ABSTRACT
Here, we present the draft whole-genome sequence of Vibrio cholerae O1 El Tor strains 76 and M3265/80, isolated in Mariupol, Ukraine, and Moscow, Russia. The presence of various mutations detected in virulence-associated mobile elements indicates high genetic similarity of the strains reported here with new highly virulent variants of the cholera agent V. cholerae.
ABSTRACT
Draft whole-genome sequencing of the Vibrio cholerae Ð1 El Tor clinical strain L3226, isolated in Moscow in 2010, was carried out. Various mutations in the virulence-associated mobile elements were determined in its genome that differentiated this strain from the reference V. cholerae Ð1 El Tor strain N16961.
ABSTRACT
Molecular-genetic properties of classical biotype Vibrio cholerae strains that caused the Asiatic cholera outbreak in 1942 in Russia have been investigated for the first time. Being characterized by high-level production of cholera toxin and toxin-coregulated adhesion pili both of which are the major virulence factors, all the strains studied, in contrast to the typical cholera pathogens, were autographic requiring purine and/or amino acids added to the minimal medium for their growth. Moreover, these strains containing the structural gene hapA, as shown by the polymerase chain reaction, produced no soluble hemagglutinin/protease, which enables the vibrios to get disseminated in the environment. The peculiarities of the natural V. cholerae strains elucidated in the work are likely to be responsible for the unusual infectious and epidemic processes observed during that cholera outbreak.