Epidemiological and phylogenetic analysis of Spanish human Brucella melitensis strains by multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeat typing, hypervariable octameric oligonucleotide fingerprinting, and rpoB typing.

The severe morbidity of human brucellosis is one of the main reasons for using molecular typing in the epidemiological surveillance of this worldwide zoonosis. Multiple-locus variable-number repeat analysis (MLVA-16), hypervariable octameric oligonucleotide fingerprinting (HOOF-print), and the differences in the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (codons 1249 and 1309) of the DNA-dependent RNA polymerase beta subunit (rpoB) were used to type a human Brucella melitensis population (108 strains) collected from throughout Spain over 13 years. Eighty-six MLVA types (discriminatory index, 0.99) were detected, with a wide-ranging genetic similarity coefficient (37.2 to 93.7%). The population clustered into the following groups: American, with genotypes 47 (1 strain), 48 (13 strains), 53 (12 strains), 55 (2 strains), 80 (1 strain), and a new genotype (2 strains), Western Mediterranean, with genotype 51 (9 strains), and Eastern Mediterranean, with genotypes 42 (60 strains), 43 (4 strains), and 63 (4 strains). Two profession-related and two foodborne acquisitions were confirmed. Distributed throughout Spain, Eastern Mediterranean genotype 42 was the most common (55%). The low MLVA-16 allelic polymorphism (genetic similarity range, 75 to 94%) of the genotype 42 strains suggests that they recently evolved from a common ancestor. rpoB typing grouped the strains as rpoB type 1 (1249-ATG/1309-CTG; 28.7%), rpoB type 2 (1249-ATG/1309-CTA; 62.9%), and rpoB type 3 (1249-ATA/1309-CTG; 8.3%). According to the MLVA-16 results, the population clustered by rpoB type. Given the correlation between B. melitensis MLVA groups and rpoB types (American and rpoB type 1, Eastern Mediterranean and rpoB type 2, and Western Mediterranean and rpoB type 3), the rpoB type could be used as an initial marker for the epidemiological surveillance of brucellosis.