Existence of Paenibacillus larvae genotypes ERIC I-ST2, ERIC I-ST15 and ERIC II-ST10 in the western region of Aichi prefecture, Japan

American foulbrood is the most destructive honeybee bacterial disease. The etiological agent, Paenibacillus larvae, has been classified into four genotypes by a repetitive-element PCR (ERIC I-IV) and 21 sequence types by multilocus sequence typing (ST1-21). In this study, we genotyped Japanese P. larvae isolates for the first time and revealed the presence of three genotypes (ERIC I-ST2, ERIC I-ST15 and ERIC II-ST10) in the western region of Aichi prefecture. ERIC I-ST15 and ERIC II-ST10 are globally distributed types, whereas the ERIC I-ST2 isolate was the first isolate of this genotype identified outside the native range of the European honeybee. The ERIC I and II isolates differed in phenotypes including cell morphology, and these may be useful for predicting ERIC types.