Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Pathogens Volume 2013, Article ID 521510, 8 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/521510 Research Article Genotypic Characterization of Yersinia enterocolitica Biotype 4/O:3 Isolates from Pigs and Slaughterhouses Using SE-AFLP, ERIC-PCR, and PFGE Renata Paixão, 1,2 Luisa Zanolli Moreno, 1,3 Débora Dirani Sena de Gobbi, 1 Daniele Cristine Raimundo, 1,2 Thais Sebastiana Porfida Ferreira, 1 Maria Garcia Spindola, 1 Ernesto Hofer, 4 Cristhiane Moura Falavina dos Reis, 4 Maria Helena Matté, 3 and Andrea Micke Moreno 1 1 Departamento de Medicina Veterin´ aria Preventiva e Sa´ ude Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterin´ aria e Zootecnia, Universidade de S˜ ao Paulo, Avenida Prof. Dr. Orlando Marques de Paiva 87, Butant˜ a, 05508-270 S˜ ao Paulo, SP, Brazil 2 Faculdade de Medicina Veterin´ aria, Faculdades Metropolitanas Unidas (FMU), Rua Ministro Nelson Hungria 541, 05690-050 S˜ ao Paulo, SP, Brazil 3 Laborat´ orio de Sa´ ude P´ ublica, Faculdade de Sa´ ude P´ ublica, Universidade de S˜ ao Paulo, Avenida Dr. Arnaldo 715, 01246-904 S˜ ao Paulo, SP, Brazil 4 Laborat´ orio de Zoonoses Bacterianas, Fundac ¸˜ ao Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ), Avenida Brasil 4365, 21045-900 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil Correspondence should be addressed to Andrea Micke Moreno; morenoam@usp.br Received 27 February 2013; Revised 9 May 2013; Accepted 13 May 2013 Academic Editor: Hin-Chung Wong Copyright © 2013 Renata Paix˜ ao et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Yersinia enterocolitica is a foodborne pathogen that causes illness in humans and animals. he biotype 4/O:3 has been commonly associated with yersiniosis and is characterized by the presence of chromosomal and extra-chromosomal virulence genes. Molecular typing methods have been successfully used to characterize Y. enterocolitica genetic heterogeneity and to study the epidemiology of the bacteria from diferent origins. In this study, 320 Y. enterocolitica biotype 4/O:3 isolates originating in pigs and slaughterhouses were characterized according to the virulence proile, and 61 isolates were typiied through SE-AFLP, ERIC-PCR, and PFGE techniques. he majority of the isolates originated from pigs, and the predominant virulence proile was ail+ virF+ rbC+ ystA+, representing 83.4% of the tested isolates. All of the Y. enterocolitica 4/O:3 isolates were positive for at least ystA gene. he SE-AFLP and ERIC-PCR patterns were highly homogeneous. he SE-AFLP was more discriminative than the ERIC-PCR and tended to cluster isolates according to the slaughterhouse. Despite the limited genetic diversity of Y. enterocolitica 4/O:3, PFGE was shown to be the most discriminative technique considering one band of diference. Fattening pigs proved to be an important reservoir of Y. enterocolitica biotype 4/O:3 carrying virulence genes. 1. Introduction Yersinia enterocolitica is an important zoonotic foodborne pathogen that can cause acute diarrhea, terminal ileitis, and mesenteric lymphadenitis in humans and animals [1, 2]. he isolates largely responsible for human yersiniosis in Europe, Japan, Canada, and the USA belong to biotype 4/O:3 [1]. he epidemiology of the disease is not completely known. he pig is considered the only reservoir from which path- ogenic Y. enterocolitica isolates, such as biotype 4/O:3, have been frequently isolated [1]. he prevalence of this biotype in pig slaughterhouses has been reported to be 56% in Finland [3] and 60% in southern Germany [4]. Serotype O:3 is pre- dominant among the isolates recovered from slaughter pigs in the USA [5]. Mart´ ınez et al. [6] reported that fattening pigs seem to be an important reservoir of pathogenic Y. enteroco- litica in Belgium, Italy, and Spain. he virulence of the pathogenic biotype 4/O:3 is attrib- uted to the presence of chromosomal and extrachromosomal genes. he plasmid for Yersinia virulence (pYV) encodes