Bulls eye colonies of Yersinia enterocolitica on CIN agar

Yersinia enterocolitica, a food- and water-borne enteropathogen, and cause of a variety of gastrointestinal syndromes is well known in temperate regions. However little has been known about the prevalence of this organism in tropical and subtropical parts of the world.Our laboratory has shown presence of Y. enterocolitica in wastewater, pork, pig throats and diarrheic human stool samples collected in National Capital Territory of Delhi (India) and adjoining areas. The isolates belong to biotype 1A and harbour ystB gene for enterotoxin. REP(REP/ERIC)-PCR genotyping showed that strains isolated from India are similar to biotype 1A strains isolated in other parts of the world. All biotype 1A strains were distinguished into two clonal groups. Two clonal groupings were reiterated by studying heterogeneity of beta-lactamase gene blaA. Current studies in the laboratory focus on the comparative genomics of clinical and environmental biotype 1A strains of Y.enterocolitica to understand their pathogenic potential and to identify proteins specific for clinical/environmental strains for use in detection, diagnostics and environmental monitoring.

Dr. J. S. VIRDI Microbial Pathogenicity Laboratory Department of Microbiology University of Delhi South Campus, Benito Juarez Road, New Delhi - 110 021 (INDIA); Phone: (Lab.) +91-11-24110950 Fax: 91-11-24115270

E-Mail: virdi_dusc@rediffmail.com