P. 7465-7470Francisella tularensis subsp. holarctica is widely disseminated in North America and the boreal and temperate
regions of the Eurasian continent. Comparative genomic analyses identified a 1.59-kb genomic deletion specific
to F. tularensis subsp. holarctica isolates from Spain and France. Phylogenetic analysis of strains carrying this
deletion by multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis showed that the strains comprise a highly
related set of genotypes, implying that these strains were recently introduced or recently emerged by clonal
expansion in France and the Iberian PeninsulaS
