Possible Misidentification of Mycobacterium yongonense

To the Editor: Tortoli et al. (1) reported pulmonary disease caused by M. yongonense strains isolated from patients in Italy; these strains were identified by sequencing the 16S rRNA, hsp65, rpoB, and sodA genes and the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) region. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of these isolates showed 100% similarity with those of M. yongonense and M. marseillense. The isolates were more closely related to M. yongonense than to M. marseillense in terms of the hsp65 gene and ITS1 region; however, the rpoB gene sequence showed a higher degree of similarity to that of M. intracellulare (99.4%) than to that of M. marseillense (97.4%). The authors did not mention the similarity of the isolates with M. intracellulare in these sequences except for the rpoB gene. However, because these sequences showed high similarity to M. yongonense, a high degree of similarity to M. intracellulare could be inferred. 
 
The initial description of M. yongonense highlighted its unique molecular character (2). The 16S rRNA and hsp65 genes and ITS1 region are closely related to those of M. intracellulare ATCC 13950T; however, the rpoB gene is closely related to that of M. parascrofulaceum ATCC BAA-614T (99.4%). No consensus guidelines are available for mycobacterial identification, but the rpoB gene has been used widely as a target gene; multilocus sequence analysis also has been used recently (3,4). Although the authors suggest that a variant of M. yongonense preceded the acquisition of the rpoB gene from M. parascrofulaceum by a lateral gene transfer event (3), the isolates described are more similar to M. intracellulare than to M. yongonense on the basis of the rpoB gene sequence and multilocus sequence analysis. It is also possible that the isolates are a M. yongonense strain that preceded the acquisition of the rpoB gene but that are not the same as the initially described M. yongonense.

viruses showed high nucleotide identities, which suggested that the outbreak viruses in domestic ducks and Baikal teals might have an identical origin.Although research on the epidemiologic features of this outbreak is currently underway, it seems likely that on the basis of reassortant sequence features of the 8 genome segments, these 3 distinct viruses originated in eastern China.These influenza viruses are a potential threat to the poultry population in South Korea, including gallinaceous birds during movement of domestic ducks through the distribution network of live bird markets.

Misidentification of Mycobacterium yongonense
To the Editor: Tortoli et al. (1) reported pulmonary disease caused by M. yongonense strains isolated from patients in Italy; these strains were identified by sequencing the 16S rRNA, hsp65, rpoB, and sodA genes and the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) region.The 16S rRNA gene sequence of these isolates showed 100% similarity with those of M. yongonense and M. marseillense.The isolates were more closely related to M. yongonense than to M. marseillense in terms of the hsp65 gene and ITS1 region; however, the rpoB gene sequence showed a higher degree of similarity to that of M. intracellulare (99.4%) than to that of M. marseillense (97.4%).The authors did not mention the similarity of the isolates with M. intracellulare in these sequences except for the rpoB gene.However, because these sequences showed high similarity to M. yongonense, a high degree of similarity to M. intracellulare could be inferred.
The initial description of M. yongonense highlighted its unique molecular character (2).The 16S rRNA and hsp65 genes and ITS1 region are closely related to those of M. intracellulare ATCC 13950 T ; however, the rpoB gene is closely related to that of M. parascrofulaceum ATCC BAA-614 T (99.4%).No consensus guidelines are available for mycobacterial identification, but the rpoB gene has been used widely as a target gene; multilocus sequence analysis also has been used recently (3,4).Although the authors suggest that a variant of M. yongonense preceded the acquisition of the rpoB gene from M. parascrofulaceum by a lateral gene transfer event (3), the isolates described are more similar to M. intracellulare than to M. yongonense on the basis of the rpoB http://www.facebook.com

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Z ika virus is a mosquito-borne positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus in the family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus that causes a mild, acute febrile illness similar to dengue.In 1947, scientists researching yellow fever placed a rhesus macaque in a cage in the Zika Forest (zika meaning "overgrown" in the Luganda language), near the East African Virus Research Institute in Entebbe, Uganda.A fever developed in the monkey, and researchers isolated from its serum a transmissible agent that was first described as Zika virus in 1952.It was subsequently isolated from a human in Nigeria in 1954.From its discovery until 2007, confirmed cases of Zika virus infection from Africa and Southeast Asia were rare.In 2007, however, a major epidemic occurred in Yap Island, Micronesia.More recently, epidemics have occurred in Polynesia, Easter Island, the Cook Islands, and New Caledonia.

Zika Virus
Zika [zēk′ ə] Virus etymologia gene sequence and multilocus sequence analysis.It is also possible that the isolates are a M. yongonense strain that preceded the acquisition of the rpoB gene but that are not the same as the initially described M. yongonense.