Sequences for rpoB, gyrB, pdiA, and ompA were determined from 63 Bacteroides fragilis isolates, which were from Korea and Japan and include 4 reference strains. All 4 gene sequences supported clear separation of the cfi(+) group from the cfi(-) group. Combined sequences of the 60 division I isolates (cfi(-)) produced 45 different clones. Apparent discordance of gene trees, index of association, maximum likelihood test, and homoplasy ratio all supported a high frequency of recombination. There was no association between the presence of virulence-related genes and phylogenetic clustering in any gene tree