Polymerase Chain Reaction Analysis for Detecting Capsule Serotypes K1 and K2 ofKlebsiella pneumoniaeCausing Abscesses of the Liver and Other Sites

作者：Wen‐Liang Yu, Chang‐Phone Fung, Wen‐Chien Ko, Kuo-Chen Cheng, Ching‐Chien Lee, Yin‐Ching Chuang · 发表于：The Journal of Infectious Diseases · 年份：2007 · DOI：10.1086/512686 · 被引用次数：65 · 研究领域：Amoebic Infections and Treatments、Diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis、Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria

To the Editor—The mucoviscosity-associated gene A (magA) of Klebsiella pneumoniae was first reported to highly correlate hypermucoviscosity phenotype with liver abscess strains [1]. In the 1 March 2006 issue of the Journal, Chuang et al. [2] identified an operon containing magA that is responsible for capsular serotype K1 of K. pneumoniae. After screening magA for 74 strains using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), all 36 magA-positive strains were serotype K1, and the 38 magA-negative strains were not. Having sequenced the magA flanking region of K. pneumoniae NTUH-K2044 (K1) and compared it with the capsular polysaccharide (cps) loci in both K. pneumoniae MGH78578 (K52) and the Chedid strain (K2), Chuang et al. demonstrated that magA is located within an operon that is specific to serotype K1 cps gene clusters. Similarly, Struve et al. [3] investigated 495 worldwide isolates and Yeh et al. [4] screened 134 K. pneumoniae strains causing liver abscess; both studies found that magA is restricted to the gene cluster of K. pneumoniae capsule serotype K1 and that all the non-K1 strains were magA negative. Thus, PCR analysis for magA is a rapid and accurate method to detect capsule K1 strains. Can PCR analysis be applied to detect capsular serotype K2 of K. pneumoniae? This question addresses the second common clinical occurrence in liver abscess strains and has not been well studied, even though the serotype-specific cps region of the K. pneumoniae K2 serotype has been reported [5]...