title: Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA genotyping of serogroup A meningococci yields results similar to those obtained by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis and reveals new genotypes.
abstract: Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) genotyping was applied to one representative strain of each of the 84 electrophoretic types (ETs) of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A previously defined by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MEE) (J.-F. Wang et al., Infect. Immun. 60:5267-5282, 1992). Twenty-seven additional isolates comprising six ETs were also tested. MEE and RAPD genotyping yielded similar dendrograms at the subgroup level. Similar results were obtained by both methods for 18 serogroup A meningococci isolated in The Netherlands between 1989 and 1993. Ten of these isolates defined a new subgroup, designated subgroup IX. One isolate belonged to the ET-5 complex, normally associated with serogroup B strains (D. A. Caugant et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83:4927-4931, 1986). By RAPD genotyping, meningococci can be linked to previously characterized genotypes by using a computerized database, and dendrograms based on cluster analyses can easily be generated. RAPD analysis offers advantages over MEE since intermediate numbers of isolates of serogroup A meningococci can quickly be assigned to known subgroups and new subgroups can be defined.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. A.Bart@amc.uva.nl
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bart
authors.forename: I G
authors.initials: IG
authors.lastname: Schuurman
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Achtman
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Caugant
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dankert
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van der Ende
mesh_terms: D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D004586:Electrophoresis; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D004798:Enzymes; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D009426:Netherlands; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012703:Serotyping
chemical_list: D004798:Enzymes