Geographical heterogeneity between Far East and Europe in prevalence of ypm gene encoding the novel superantigen among Yersinia pseudotuberculosis strains

Yersinia pseudotuberculosis is known to produce a novel superantigen designated Y. pseudotuberculosis-derived mitogen. In the present study, we demonstrated that there was a distinct geographical heterogeneity between the Far East (higher prevalence) and Europe (lower prevalence) in the prevalence of the ypm gene encoding the superantigen among Y. pseudotuberculosis strains.