title: Identification of microorganisms using random primed PCR.
abstract: The polymerase chain reaction has facilitated the use of molecular approaches in microbiology including new strategies for the rapid identification of micro-organisms. Approaches based on the use of random primers and standard conditions, allows characteristic DNA fingerprints to be generated from any micro-organism even in the absence of information about its DNA sequence. Different primers can be used to produce genus-specific, species-specific, or even strain-specific DNA fingerprints. This article covers the background to this strategy, describes three different approaches to generating DNA fingerprints using random primers, and provides experimental detail for one method, RAPD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Mileham
mesh_terms: D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D017931:DNA Primers; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers